Walking Kontradiction
by TheRazzleDazzleDame
Summary: Scorpion finds himself having to protect someone other than himself - can he handle it or is this task too much for our favorite Shirai-Ryu ninja?
1. Obligations

(A/N: I'd first like to say, I own nothing that does not belong to me. Secondly, this story is dedicated to my sister. I know I already have a story dedicated to her, but...ahem...oh well. Hee hee. I have just recently become obsessed with the fighting game, Mortal Kombat: Deception - therefore resulting in me finding out more about the whole series. So, yeah...if there are a few quirks, don't hurt me! I've done research, hopefully enough, so don't burn me alive!)

(Ha ha...toasty...)

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Chapter One: Obligations

"Dammit," a voice lacking anything remotely close to pleasant spat out severely. To add to the harshness of the tone, shortly after the word was uttered a chair was sent slamming into a nearby wall - splinters of wood exploding in all possible directions. Rough hands tightly squeezed into and out of fists as the moments passed - rapid, fleeting breaths quickly transformed into slow, deliberate ones.

After succesfully calming down, the figure calmly beheld the room he had currently mutilated. Much to his annoyance, however, even after he practically flipped the room upside down and shook it, the item he needed was not there.

"I still have the rest of this place to search," he thought as he walked a few steps to the opening of the room and stared up into a flight of stairs. Determined, he began yet another search as he stepped up the stairs.

Unfortunatly for the said figure, his rummaging only brought the same results as the first room - nothing. There was only one room left, and as far as the specter was concerned, there _would_ be somthing to find or someone would feel the wrath of Scorpion.

Just as his hand wrapped around the door knob, the front door to the dwelling opened. The warrior swiftly hid himself before the person could even shut the door.

Carefully listening through the floor-boards from his hiding place, the ninja heard a gasp - it was a woman. Aparantly she had found the mess made in the rooms downstairs. Briefly after the sharp intake of breath, incoherent mumbling followed.

"Probably cursing," Scorprion thought off-handedly; but as the mumbling continued, he wasn't so sure. It merely sounded as if she was mumbling to herself.

Tearing into his thoughts, Scorpion heard the front door open once again. Not being able to see who it was made him slightly nervous, but keeping his position secret was the number one priority at that moment. So, he settled for listening.

"...did you do, Erren?" A loud voice echoed harshly through the house. This time it was a man. Scorpion quickly put it together as he heard two sets of foot-steps walk through the room below. All the floors in the house were wooden - making every foot-step that much easier to hear.

There were three people below him - one man, two women. Two parents and their daughter. Scorpion listened for a little longer until he heard foot-steps running up the stairs - toward the room he was currently in.

"Shit," he cursed silently as he slid into a door near him. He soon realized he was in a closet - soft, thin material pressed against his body as he silently shifted. "Must be the girl's room," he thought as he heard something hit the ground and shortly after that something landed on the bed.

"Of all the rooms that could have been hers..." Scorpion thought heatedly. The only room he hadn't checked now could _not_ be checked.

Deciding to wait until the girl was asleep and not causing a scene, Scorpion, of cousre, stayed where he was; out of sight.

It was silent for a few long moments - maybe the girl was asleep? The specter quickly found out as soft mumbling filled the formerly quiet space.

"Sleep talking?" he hoped as he silently peered through the closet door. No such luck. The girl was talking to herself. "...Damn." Scorpion gurdgingly made himself comfortable among the clothes once again as the low rantings continued. Having nothing better to do, the ninja found himself listening in on the girl's conversation with herself.

"...but how could I wreck the house in such a short itme? They didn't even think of a burgalar. If it is a burgalar, he's probably sitll in the house." Scorpion felt his body tense. "What if he's in here? Would he kill me and take my things? "l'd hope he'd only take my things. Except my pillows. They're probably my favorite things in my room. Well, there's also my favorite lamp..."

Scorpion was thankful the brat wasn't thinking too much on the thought of the "burgalar still being there." He stopped listening after that. The ninja had the sinking feeling that what he was looking for wasn't in the house. He thought back to what caused him to be in the mess he was in.

The specter was training in the Netherrealm as he usually did. Perfecting his killing arts and his kombat skills; as he recalled the training, Scorpion realized he was still slightly tired from the extreme session. All of his training was harsh - it was what helped him stay razor sharp and strong - but what happened after that could have been prevented if he had not been so worn out.

Two strangers appeared - the first thought that entered Scorpion's mind was Quan Chi's men - and opened a portal of some sort. Amazingly, for the two strangers were unblieveably stupid, Scorpion did not end up in the intended black hole they planned to use to kill him. He ended up in a completely different dimension. At first he thought it was Earthrealm, but the more he looked, the less it appeared so.

Scorpion snapped back to the present when he heard foot-steps coming toward his hiding place.

"I hate to be so paranoid, but I have the feeling of someone watching me..." The girl continued her babbling as she peered into the closet. After seeing nothing out of the ordinary, she turned around and saw nothing but a chest clothed with tight, black material. Her eyes grew noticably larger just before she placed her hands over her face.

Scorpion looked down in pure confusion as the girl stood completely still with her hands over her eyes - what was she doing?

The girl didn't move for some time - much to the annoyance of Scorpion. So, to mess with her, he didn't move or make any noises - making it seem as if he wasn't even there. If she was pissing him off with her odd behaivor, he'd sure as hell scare her with his.

Finally, the girl removed her hands from her face. Scorpion smirked as her mouth opened wide, ready to scream. He waited for it -

But the only thing the ninja heard was a loud thump. Scorpion looked below him to the floor and saw the girl out-cold. Cocking an eyebrow, he knelt down to check if he had killed her. Somehow that would come back to haunt him if she _was_ dead.

Scorpion snorted as he touched her bare neck. She was alive, nothing to worry about. Throwing her on the bed, Scorpion decided to search the room while he had the chance.

"Dammit to hell!" He cursed out loud this time. Nothing even remotely close to what he was searching for was found. There went his chances of escaping the odd reality. The ninja's rage allowed him not to notice the girl wide awake in her bed.

"...what are you looking for?" A small voice escaped the girl's throat. Scorpion felt his body jolt away from the noise and he quickly turned his face toward the young girl.

"I was so wound up I didn't even notice..." he thought as his body eased from it's surprised reaction. He sighed and turned toward the window. He had _no_ obligation to this girl - he would find what he needed somewhere else.

Just as he touched the window, however, a loud sucking sound pulled his attenion to the other side of the room. Smirking, Scorpion laid his eyes upon a warrior with a large sword and a gaping black portal behind him.

"Scorpion, I have come for your -" before the non-human swordsmen could finish his threat however, the Shirai-Ryu cut him down.

"How pathetic," Scorpion murmered as he stepped over the body. He didn't even notice the girl had gotten out of her bed and was standing in the nearest corner with her hands over her face again - Scorpion really didn't care. She _wasn't_ his obligation -

Until she somehow tripped over the body and fell into the portal behind him.

End of Chapter One

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(A/N: The next chapter will be up soon; well, if anyone _wants _it up, that is.)

Red.


	2. Orders

(A/N: I own nothing that does not belong to me. Here's chapter two.)

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Chapter Two: Orders

Raiden was a busy thunder god - he had little time for unexpected happenings; especially a dead warrior with a tag along from another dimension.

When Raiden first found out about the situation, he was furious - what kind of idiot would do something that could start multiple wars? Bringing the said tag along would surely do so.

Then the thunder god found out who was "responsible" and simply sighed and shook his head. Scorpion must have been pushed into some portal meant to kill him and ended up in another dimension. Raiden decided to blame the evil Quan Chi and not kill Scorpion for the confusion.

Unfortunatly though, Raiden was the one to handle the situation. How he got the job he hadn't the slightest clue - he just knew that he wasn't very happy about it.

Raiden quickly found Scorpion's location - the god knew how Scorpion would handle this. He simply _wouldn't_.

Scorpion could have killed something right about the time he found the girl still with him. His top lip twitched as he stared at her form - not that anyone could tell his lip was twitching - hell, no one could even tell how mad he actually was half of the time.

Scorpion crossed his arms and scanned the surrounding area seeing no one around. The always dark sky hovered above forebodingly - just as it usually did in the Netherrealm. Sighing, he glared down at the girl.

She still had her hands over her face. Her sitting form balled up - her knees hugged her chest. Scorpion couldn't tell if she was frightened or not. Judging by the covering of her eyes, the specter guessed she was.

Then, suddenly, without moving her hands, she asked in a muffled voice, "What were you looking for?"

Confused by her question, Scorpion didn't answer immediatly.

What the hell kind of question was that at a time when she could easily be killed? She could have asked anything - but that? Scorpion decided the girl was mental.

The girl smiled weakly, or that was what Scorpion saw through her hands. "Ok," she paused and licked her lips. "You don't have to answer."

Scorpion sighed again. "A portal-key." His answer was short and laced with annoyance. He really didn't have time for baby-sitting - he paused, smirking - who said he had to watch her? Nobody. So, he turned to leave. She was mumbling something but Scomrpion really didn't care.

Just as he focused on the few feet before him, something blocked his path. To be specific, _someone_ blocked his path. Allowing a growl to escape his throat, the ninja glared at the man before him, "Raiden." Nothing good came with Raiden.

"Scorpion," he greeted. The two warriors weren't exactly close, they didn't even know each other that well - so Raiden concluded on keeping the meeting short and to the point.

"What do you want?" Scorpion asked rather hatefully. Raiden sighed as he looked behind Scorpion's rigid form to the young girl's sitting one.

"I have been asked to make sure you don't let anything harm that girl."

Scorpion felt anger fill his senses as Raiden so casually gave him orders. "Why? I have nothing -"

"Is that a yes?" Raiden smirked. "Wonderful, I trust you'll keep her from danger, but just to be safe, I've prepared for you two to travel to Earthrealm."

Scorpion was burning with rage. He almost roared as he spoke, but he kept it at a yell. "Why can't you take care of her yourself? If you have the time to order me around, then surely you can handle the task."

Raiden was ignoring the warrior and made his way toward the young girl. He stopped and stood right in front of her. "Don't be frightened, you're in good hands." When she didn't look up, the thunder god turned back around to face Scorpion. "You two are allowed to enter Earthrealm. I'll be keeping watch when I can." With that, he was gone. Scorpion clenched his jaws so hard together he thought he might break a few teeth.

After a few moments filled with calming thoughts, Scorpion walked toward the girl and grabbed her arm, yanking her to her feet.

Neither of them made any noise while walking. Scorpion found himself quite a ways in front of her. He turned his head slightly to see if she was even still behind him. What he saw made his head turn completely.

The girl's knees and elbows were knicked up - like she had fallen and scraped them. He also noticed that her hands were still over her eyes. Scorpion growled and made his way to the girl.

She was still walking so he had to grab her to stop her from falling again. He forcefully pulled her arms to her sides and glared at her - hard.

The girl's eyes were wide - she aparantly had no idea where she was or what was going on; again, adding to Scorpion's annoyance.

"It helps if you can see where you're going," he barked. He saw her flinch - she hadn't made eye-contact with him the whole time. Sighing, he turned and began walking again.

Then he heard it - mumbling. Constant strands of words. Scorpion remembered the oddness in the bedroom and growled to himself.

"...Can he even see me? I didn't see any pupils. The other guy didn't have pupils either. Did they even look at me? I couldn't tell. Well, I didn't look at them either, so I guess it's only fair that they didn't look at me. If they did look at me, I wonder what they'd think of me..."

"I think you're pathetic and need to grow up." Scorpion said suddenly. The girl stopped talking and looked at the ground, biting her bottom lip. "Good," Scorpion thought. "She shut up."

After entering Earthrealm finally, the two made thier way to a secluded area.

Scorpion did not like being with other people - he liked seclusion. At least, ever since he died.

So camping out with an odd girl was not something Scorpion found enjoyable - not that anything actually was enjoyable in his world.

The girl simply sat by the fire, curled up and stayed quiet. Scorpion didn't mind - he'd rather her be quiet. It was like she wasn't even there.

Later, when it was dark, Scorpion went out to find food. He easily caught two rabbits and was in the middle of skinning the second one when he heard that small voice again.

"...your name?" Was all he heard of the question. He turned to see the girl watching his hands intently. After a moment he returned to the rabbit.

"What was that?" He asked as he cut off the last of the fur. She had an unbelievably soft voice. It was rather irksome.

"W-what's your name?" She finally asked again. Scorpion heard her shift her sitting position as he jabbed a long stick through each of the rabbit carcasses and pushed the stick in the ground; it's angle toward the fire for the creatures to cook.

"Scorpion."

There was silence again. Just the sound of fire filled the night air as the two sat by it. For a while, Scorpion thought she was asleep.

"My name...is Erren." She whispered out.

End of Chapter Two

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(A/N: I know Earthrealm is supposed to be 'our' realm, but this girl is from a completely _different _reality - ours. She has no idea of any of this because in her world, there aren't other realms. It would be as if a normal person from _here_, (our reality) were sucked into the MK universe...Sorry if I'm confusing you all! Ha ha.)

Red.


	3. Bother

(A/N: I own nothing that is not mine.)

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Chapter Three: Bother

Erren never was a very happy girl. She didn't do any sports, no scary movies; those kinds of things scared her. So when she found herself in a completely different universe, she was literally scared speechless.

She only found enough courage to talk when she didn't think about how scared she _was_. Erren was even a little proud of herself - she asked the scary ninja-guy his name and told him hers. She allowed herself to smile faintly.

Now the ninja-guy - Scorpion - told her to eat. She didn't even realize the rabbit was done. She hesitantly reached for the once rabbit and tried not to freak out over the fact that she saw him - Scorpion - skin it...and kill it.

Erren found herself occasionally looking up at her body-gaurd - she found the term amusing - and wondered why he wasn't eating. He killed two rabbits and she wasn't hungry enough to eat two. The question finally bothered her to the point of her actually asking it.

Looking up once again, she set what was left of her dinner on her lap and licked her lips.

"Why do you keep looking at me?" Scorpion asked lowly. His sudden question surprised Erren; she actually forgot what she was about to ask him. After a few thoughtful moments however, she remembered what she was about to ask.

"Why did you kill two rabbits when I'm the only one eating?" Erren felt proud of herself again. She usually didn't _talk_ this much. Especially to strangers.

The stranger - he was a stranger even though she knew his name - seemed taken aback by the question. His eyes widened slightly and he stared at the cooked meat. A few quiet moments passed and Scorpion looked the same as he did when Erren first asked the question.

Erren felt worry rise in her chest and she quickly tried to get his mind on something else. "Oh, so...are you -"

Scorpion's sudden movement startled Erren speechless. The ninja had stood unexpectedly and was walking away. Erren quickly felt panic seep into her as she saw his fleeting form.

"W-wait.." she whimpered softly. "Where are you going?" She couldn't believe she managed to choke out a sentence.

Without turning around to even look at her, Scorpion growled a response to her weak voiced question.

"Don't worry, you'll be safe - I'll be near by watching out so nothing can get you." His words were cold and filled with what sounded like pure hatred. He disappeared into a nearby tree and didn't say another word.

Erren felt sick. She wanted to be at home in her bed asleep. Even though her parents had blamed her for the wrecked house, she'd still rather be home. Where _ever_ she was no one even cared if she lived or died - well, at least not for her feelings, anyway. No one cared if she was hurt by their words or if she was home-sick.

At least that's what she felt from Scorpion. She knew for a fact that he truly didn't care about her. Not that he had any right to, they had just met. But the way he treated her was beyond not caring. It felt as if she was no more than an annoyance. Like she was nothing _but_ a walking annoyance.

The feeling of being thought of that way was almost unbearable - Erren felt her chest tighten up and she gently rubbed it to help calm her breathing. When that didn't help she couldn't help but freak out even more. Her breaths were short and labored - the sound caused her panic to increase. Erren checked her pockets quickly, hoping to find her inhaler...

...but found nothing but empty pockets. Erren felt herself losing it and tried to calm herself down - nothing was working. Her breathing became so horrid she finally let out what she wanted to be a scream - but the noise she made sounded more like a chocking gasp. It didn't improve the situation, if anything.

Scorpion, in truth, had left because he didn't feel like getting to know some brat he'd probably never see again after she was sent back to where ever she came from. Not that he cared if he ever saw her again - he was actually hoping he _wouldn't_ - he just didn't like being her damn baby-sitter.

After a few minutes of peace and quiet, the Shirai-Ryu heard an awful gasping sound. Quickly jumping down from the tree he was in, Scorpion ran toward the girl.

In all honesty he was shocked. The girl had doubled over and was fighing for air, one hand clenching her chest, the other her throat.

"Dammit," he cursed loudly as he knelt down beside the teen. If it wasn't one thing it was another. Scorpion quickly pulled her into a sitting position and removed her hands from her chest and neck to her sides. He then knelt down directly in front of her and looked her in the eyes, or _tried_ to.

"I'm no good at these things," he thought as he almost frantically searched for the right words. Calming words. Finally, he spoke.

"Concentrate on my face," he started. The girl seemed to be trying, so Scorpion went on. "Take slow breaths."

After a few more commands the girl was breathing semi-normally. Scropion sighed and stood, looking the girl over. She was sweating and her skin was deathly pale, but besides that she seemed fine.

"You alright now?" He asked, not sounding all too worried about her.

Erren was thankful none-the-less and nodded. She then smiled and shut her eyes. "Thank you," was all she said.

Scorpion decided it was better if he stayed down closer to her - much to his dismay. She was asleep, at least. She slept soundly on the ground, curled up - her hands wrapped around her torso. Scorpion found it odd for some reason how she slept. Like she was hugging herself, rocking herself to sleep. It was rather sad, actually. The _girl_ was sad, in his opinion.

The ninja found his eyes moving up and down her form. Her clothes were odd enough - white shirt with blue pants - but _she_ looked odd herself.

Her shape was lanky, but she was only about five foot five. She wasn't skin and bones but not over-weight either. Her face was plain - everything about her was plain. Her hair was even un-remakrable - short, brown pieces framed her face in sharp locks - in the right light she could even be mistaken as a boy.

Nothing remakrable, that was for sure. Not that any of that mattered. Scorpion was not one for romance or intimate relationships. When he was alive, yes, but that was ancient history.

Not wanting to dwell on the past, the ninja continued to stare at the girl's sleeping form.

"What did she say her name was?" He thought as he racked his brain to remember. "Oh, Erren." The name was strange.

...but everything else about her was, too. She was oddly normal. Scorpion snorted,

"A walking contradiction." He said aloud. Just as he finished the sentence, he realized something else about the girl; she had yet to look him in the eyes directly even when she was having her 'attack'. Scorpion didn't really care, it just bothered him. Just like everything _else _about the girl did.

End of Chapter Three

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(Drama...ha ha. Ok, see you next chapter.)


	4. Problems

(A/N: Thank you who reviewed!)

I own nothing that does not belong to me.

Chapter Four: Problems

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Scorpion stared blankly at the rabbit the girl didn't eat. Why had he prepared it? He certainly didn't need it - he was dead. Which brought up another point he'd been wondering about; if he was dead, how could he bleed? After a moment of deep thought, he came to the conclusion he was being punished. He existed for revenge - which apparantly only brought pain and more work.

Which he thought was funny because the dead were supposed to rest. Scorpion nearly laughed out loud at the thought. He never slept, either.

...Scorpion looked - again - at the girl's - Erren's - sleeping, curled up form. It was odd seeing someone sleep. The ninja hadn't done it since he died. Seeing it then made him slightly jealous.

For the second time that night Scorpion caught himself from laughing out loud.

The silence was engulfing the area again - not that it wasn't quiet moments before - Scorpion just wasn't thinking of anything now that he had nothing to think about.

"Think about anything but your death," Scorpion told himself with a smirk. There was no need to get all worked up over something -

Scorpion's eyes grew wide and he felt like punching himself in the face. If there "was no need to get worked up over something so trivial," then his whole after-life was all a waste. What the hell was he thinking?

Shifting into a different position, the ninja crossed his arms and leaned back against the tree he was sitting in front of.

"Don't think of anything at all." He whispered as he allowed his eyes to close. Scorpion couldn't sleep, but he could at least meditate.

Shortly after he closed his eyes, Scorpion heard something. He opened his eyes and saw nothing but blade.

"You killed my brother; I'm here for revenge." A voice loudly made itself known in Scorpion's ear. The Shirai-Ryu sighed and shut his eyes once again.

"You mean that ugly creature from yesterday or the day before?" The words came from smirking lips.

Scorpion felt the creature's anger rise and he quickly prepared himself for an attack -

The only problem was there was no attack on him. The demon had the girl. Scorpion's eyes widened slightly - enough for the demon to take notice, unfortunately - and stood quickly.

"For such a warrior as youself to have such a pitiful weakness..." The creature chuckled loudly.

Scorpion didn't care about the girl - he only cared about what would happen if he let her die. He'd probably be sent to Hell - or worse...

The ninja wasn't selfish, he just didn't like his situation. He might not be so hateful to her if he wasn't forced to protect her. He thought about it for a moment and frowned. He realized he wouldn't even _protect _her without being told.

So, coming to the realization that he wasn't selfish, just mean, appeased him for the time being. He wasn't always like that...

"Why are you just standing there? Don't you care if she dies?"

Scorpion sighed and looked at the demon with glaring eyes. "Actually, no." And with that, he sent a shuriken flying into the creature's throat.

As it fell, Scorpion realized something odd about it; he smelled smoke - not from the fire, either - and a sizzling sound. He then noticed the creature - with what little life it had left - had lit a bomb on it's person.

"Damn," Scorpion grabbed the girl - who was awake by now - and ran as fast as he could away from the bomb. He only made it about ten feet when it went off.

The ninja wrapped himself around the girl and felt himself leave the ground from the force of the blast.

Shortly after he was airborne, Scorpion felt his body hit something hard. There was a loud pop noise and then the pain started. He had landed, but not fefore he had hit a tree - luckily he had somehow turned his body completely around so the tree wouldn't hurt the girl. He looked down at his legs and quickly found the right side of his hip to be dislocated. Scorpion heard the sound of splitting wood and quickly looked up. A tree - a rather large tree - had been damaged during the blast and was falling in the injured ninja's direction.

Growling, he automatically rolled over....to his right.

Even though he had dodged the tree, pain flooded his senses. He also noticed he was now lying on top of the girl - he'd almost forgot about her. But when he felt something move under his chest he remembered her.

She had a little dirt on her, but besides that she seemed fine. Her eyes were wide and staring at Scorpion's deformed hip.

With difficulty, he raised himself off of her and laid on his back, catching his breath. The girl didn't move anything but her eyes; which were still on Scorpion's hip.

Scorpion sucked in a deep breath and firmly grabbed his thigh. Moments later, he jerked his arms toward his other leg.

When nothing happened, he almost felt like screaming. The pain increased greatly after his failed attempt to fix it.

He glanced at the girl and saw she was sitting up; beside him no less.

"Hey," he called. He didn't know if she could do it, but it was worth a shot. "Can you hold my leg? Firm - as tight as you can. Keep it in the same spot."

The girl nodded weakly and moved her hands slowly toward Scorpion's thigh. She swallowed hard as she took another look at Scorpion's hip.

After firmly having hold of the ninja's upper thigh firmly, the girl - Erren, whatever the hell her name was - nodded in Scorpion's direction.

"You sure you have a tight hold of it?" After another nod, Scorpion took a sharp intake of breath and jerked the rest of his body in the opposite direction.

Erren had never heard a noise as sickening as when Scorpion popped his hip back into place. She didn't know how she kept her grip, but thankfully she did. After a few seconds of silence, Scorpion turned back over and breathed out.

"Thank you," was all he said as he stood. Erren gasped as he turned, causing Scorpion to turn around toward her. "What?"

Erren pointed at his side with one shaky finger. "There's...something..in your side." She paused as he looked. "Don't you feel that..?"

When he didn't answer, Erren looked at his face - or what she could see out of his mask - and saw a pained expression. If he didn't feel it before, he apparantly did then.

A piece of wood had lodged itself into Scorpion's side - during the blast, no doubt. Erren felt her stomach turn. She wasn't really one for gore and the like.

It was bad enough when he asked her to hold his leg, but when he asked her to pull out the piece of wood, Erren _knew _she was going to pass out.

End of Chapter Four

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(Alright! I hope I see ya'll next chapter!)

Red.


	5. Back bone

I own nothing that does not belong to me.

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Chapter Five: Back-bone

Scorpion felt something like guilt when he saw the look on the girl's face as he asked her to pull out the stake in his side. But it had to be done and he couldn't reach it.

The girl placed both her hands gently around the wood at first, but then she placed one hand on his side and with the other she pulled the wood out rather slowly.

Scorpion yelled something - it even surprised him - and the girl stopped. Her eyes grew wide as she stared at the blood soaked wood. Scorpion held his breath as she bit her bottom lip and shut her eyes tightly.

"Hey, don't pass out..."

Scorpion didn't even realize what he was saying, all he knew was that the tone of his voice was filled with something he hadn't heard in a long time. Actual comforting - not what he was using earlier to calm her panic attack; _real _concern. Not for himself, either - even though it looked as if he was trying to keep her awake for his needs at the moment.

The girl - Erren, Scorpion didn't know why it mattered if he used her name or not - seemed to feel the comfort and began pulling again.

When the wood was completely out of Scorpion's side, he felt drained. He looked at the ground and he knew _why _he felt that way - blood covered the ground and the girl's - he didn't say the girl's name that time - hands. She didn't seem all that concerned with that, though.

"You...You've lost a lot of blood." She whimpered out. Scorpion held his bleeding side and shrugged.

"I'll be fine," he paused and looked at her shaky hands. "Are you alright? You look sick."

Erren - the girl - nodded quickly and did her best to wipe the blood on her pants. "Yeah...I'm perfectly fine." Scorpion noticed the smile on her face and felt a growl escape his throat.

"You don't have to fake for my sake," Scorpion spat out lowly.

The girl flinched and after a short pause of movement, continued wiping the blood on her pants. She was having trouble getting it all off - there wasn't a lot on her, but she was trying to get it out from under her figner-nails.

As Scorpion watched, something hit him like a punch to the gut. Was it guilt? The more he watched the clearer it became - he _did _feel guilty. The ninja sighed and rubbed his hand over his face - a growl followed the action shortly. Scoprion had successfully rubbed blood all over his face.

The specter looked at the girl slowly and saw those wide eyes again. "What?" He asked gruffly as he tried to wipe the crimson off of his face.

The girl swallowed hard and seemed to be considering something. Scorpion wasn't really paying much attention as he continued wiping off his face.

"I can help you...clean that off," she - Erren - said quietly. The ninja looked down at her - she had stepped closer. Scorpion's eye-brows raised slightly as the girl continued forward.

"Ok..." After a moment of silence, Scorpion spoke again. "How - "

The girl's face was slightly red as she cleared her throat. "If you don't mind, could you get...on your knees?"

There was an awkward silence that followed the rather odd request. Scorpion gave the girl one last look before he did as she asked - she seemed surprised by the obidience.

Erren - the girl - then slightly lifted her shirt; Scoprion nearly couldn't believe what he was seeing. The ninja quickly grabbed her hand.- the one doing the lifting - as he stood, towering over her. He glared down at her, ignoring her confused stare - surely she knew better.

"What the hell are you doing?" Hissed Scorpion as his hand stayed over hers.

The girl scrunched her eye-brows together and almost glared. "I was going to wipe off the blood with my shirt, but - "

Scorpion's eyes widened as the girl finished her sentence. She would go that far for him? Why would she do that? She knew how he felt about her and _still _she cared. It was almost too pitiful to fathom.

"I don't need your help," he stated flatly. "I don't know what I was thinking." Scorpion added to his earlier comment. The ninja didn't even look at the girl's face as he turned to walk away.

"What about your w-wound?" Erren - the girl, dammit - asked shakily.

"I can treat it. I'll make another fire and you can go back to sleep." Scorpion still hadn't looked back at the girl.

"...Do you - " Scorpion spun around and was in the girl's face before she could even finish her sentence. The ninja clenched his teeth together as he spoke.

"You have no idea how close I am from going over the edge. I am more than capable of handling myself - I need no help from a worthless _brat_."

The girl stared evenly at Scorpion - much to the specter's surprise. Scorpion felt a growl escape his throat as the girl's stare ceased to falter. "Why are you looking at me like that? Did you not hear what I just said?"

The girl's bottom lip quievered slighlty - Scorpion could have killed something right about then. Just what he needed; a crying little girl.

"You..." She started. She paused for a moment before she finished. "..remind me of someone I used to know."

Scorpion glared - why would he care about that? He -

_Eyes_ finally - not that the ninja _wanted _her to look at him in the eyes but there she was, _looking _him in the eyes. That color...he was so surprised to even notice the actual _color _of her eyes. All he knew was that it was breath-taking. Her eyes were liquid; hot liquid that melted anything that so dared peer into them. It was slightly un-nerving, to say the least.

Not able to rip his eyes from hers, the two stood like that - him bent over and she standing tall - for a long while.

Scoprion realized with a great feeling of discomfort how vulnerable he felt in her presence - her eyes flashed with knowing and understadning that he himself had no knowledge of. The feeling swept over him, causing the slight flicker of realization to hit him that much harder. Literally swaying, Scorpion stood straighi - hoping Erren didn't notice the unsteady movement - and turned once again.

"I'll be...right back." He said quietly.

Erren knew Scoprion didn't like her - he couln't for the sake of his well being. The ninja just wasn't the kind of person to get to know people - the kind of person who even _wanted _to get to know people. It was sad, really. Erren felt a smile creep onto her face as she thought about how much they were alike -

Her father was exactly the same.

* * *

End of Chapter Five

(Erren's father isn't exactly an important character - I just wanted to put him in here because he might be _mentioned_ later. Just some background stuff on Erren. Ok, see you next chapter!)

Red.


	6. Question

(A/N: Thank you who reviewed. Sorry for all of the typos - I can't believe there were that many! I read over it, and then I have someone else read over it! How can we miss it?! Oh well...sorry for that, I know it's annoying...)

I own nothing that does not belong to me.

* * *

Chapter Six: Question

Scorpion didn't know what to think anymore. Afrer being violated so easily by what he thought was a pathetic little girl - it left him feeling drained and almost hurt. Why - or, how could she have done that? One minute she was timid and fidgety - the next she picked a grown man - Scorpion almost laughed at the word - apart with her eyes alone. It was almost scary...

Maybe scary wasn't the right word. Revealing sounded appropriate, Scorpion decided. The ninja could barely look at the girl's sleeping body. Those eyes were...piecring. It almost felt like being literally stabbed.

"Shut the hell up," he told himself. "there is no need to get all worked up over something so damn stupid." Scorpion huffily made himself comfortable and stared fully at Erren.

Shortly after, he found the night sky an easier sight to take in...

The sun made it's way upwards as animals began chirping, barking, whistling, singing - Scorpion wanted to start a fire and watch all the merry creatures run off or burn. The ninja put out the camp fire - even after the tempting thought of the destruction of the wood-land creatures - and slowly made his way to Erren's sleeping form.

"Get up," he commanded as he stood over her. The girl quickly opened her eyes and pushed her self off the gorund. Her hair was slighlty wild, but she quickly fixed it with a swift motion of her hands.

Scorpion had no idea why he continued to watch her - maybe because he had nothing else to watch. Whatever the case, he stopped shortly after she fixed her hair.

"Where are we going?" That small, quiet voice again; Scorpion was just getting over how annoying it was but for some reason when she spoke that time the urge to kill made itself present. Without turning to face her - the girl - Scorpion replied with a short answer.

"Away from here." Scorpion didn't know how the creature from the night before had found him, but however it did didn't really matter - what mattered was that they left before something _else_ decided to stop by for a visit. It was harder to find a moving target.

The girl seemed to have been satisfied with the answer - Scorpion grit his teeth as he realized she was probably just too scared to press the subject - and the two of them walked in silence for a long while.

Scorpion felt raw pain shoot through his side. He'd forgotten to treat his wound - the one from the wood lodged in his side - and it was giving him trouble. Trying his best to simply ignore it, the Shirai-Ryu continued walking in silence.

Erren stared at the ground as she stepped on it. She was thinking of the night before. Sure, a lot had happened, but the only thing she was concerned about was when Scorpion had given her the weirdest look - when he was in her face. His stare was filled with confusion; Erren felt like dying. She never looked anyone in the eye, not even her closest friends. So when she looked Scorpion dead on in the face she felt extremly uncomfortable. He probably was looking at her that way becuase she wasn't all that good looking - in her opinion - and that was his first time noticing it.

So, to help ease her mind, she began talking to herself. It was a habit picked up from God knows where, but it helped her calm down.

"I know people say you can't actually touch a cloud, but what if you could?" Erren whispered as she stared at the sky. "I mean, what would happen? Would it be cold? Hot? Liquid? Solid? I bet it'd be more liquid than solid. But then why do they look so fluffy?..."

Scorpion literally felt his eye and lip twitch at the same time - amazing - as the sound of mumbling reached his ears. He wasn't too far ahead of her, but just enough to hear the sound of her voice. Scorpion really didn't care what she was saying however, he just wanted her to stop.

So, turning sharply, he surprisingly found her not behind him. Scorpion was either getting rusty or losing his touch- he hadn't even heard her walk off. Only slightly panicked - only to the point when one's eyes widen - the ninja searched for the girl.

Scorpion found her sitting down on the ground, holding her ankle. She looked up, clear worry on her face - she didn't meet his eyes, however. She stared at his neck; Scorpion felt annoyance spike up in the back of his mind. Until he remembered the night before. A repeat of that was not something Scorpion wanted.

Looking down with narrowed eyes, Scorpion dared to ask, "What happened?"

Erren - the damned brat - looked back down, her hair falling over her face slightly. "I tripped over something and...I hurt my ankle." She seemed sorry for her getting hurt - as she should have been. Scorpion was already doing enough for her, how he had to carry her until her ankle healed. Marvelous.

Sighing, he knelt down to her level. "How bad is it?"

"It hurts pretty bad..." She looked like she was about to cry. How did Scorpion not hear her yelp or even fall? He wasn't that far ahead of her. Deciding it wasn't important, the ninja turned his back toward the girl - still kneeilng - and held his arms behind him...although, he should have made her walk, but that would only slow them both down.

The two continued their trek onward - hopefully to some village soon - when clouds rolled into the over-head view. Scorpion allowed a frustrated sigh to escape his throat. Great, a nice hard rain. Just what he needed.

The specter eyed the area and luckily found the gaping opening of a cave. At first Scorpion doubted it was even there - his luck was far from good.

After chasing out the animals in it, Scorpion carried the girl into the rather large dwelling and set out to grab some fire-wood before it all got wet, leaving Erren alone - like he cared.

Erren watched the entrance of the cave. Scorpion hand't been gone too long, but she still felt nervous by herself. She definatly couldn't fight off anything. Erren giggled at the thought. Her, kicking and scratching some rabid racoon off of her. the teen's laughter soon stopped, however, as a loud noise filled the cave.

After regaining her composure, Erren realized it was thunder. Sighing in relief, she completely relaxed, allowing her hand to fall from her chest to the floor.

"Nothing to be scared of," she told herself, preparing to launch into a full-out speech about how she was safe inside the cave. As she took a breath to speak, she quickly frowned. Earlier, after she had hurt her ankle, Erren decided to sotp talking to herself. She knew how annoying it must've been and also she realized she could save her breath and simply calm herself by soothing words.

As Erren closed her eyes to think these said soothing words she heard a loud sound - wood hitting the stone floor. She yelped, not expecting the loud noise and stared up at Scorpion's slightly annoyed face.

"Just me. I'd hate to had gone through all this trouble just to have you die of a heart-attack."

Erren smiled, her hand still over her heart, and even laughed lightly. "Yeah, that'd...suck." She looked down at the wood and her eyes widened. "Wow...that's a lot of wood."

"Yeah." Erren looked up just in time to see Scorpion's shocked face just before it turned back to it's normal annoyed expression.

"What was that?" She thought - she was about to say it out loud but controlled herself. That would most likely not end well.

After building a fire, Scorpion sat against the cave wall across from Erren. She actually liked the space. She was far too shy for anything close to touching. She almost couldn't take it when Scorpion had told her to climb on his back. She'd never been so close to a man before - even if the lapse of space between skin was anything but romantic, it still left her feeling awkward.

Touching her ankle absently, Erren remembered something odd about Scorpion. His skin was remarkably...warm. Like clothes just taken out of the dryer. AFter a few minutes of debating with herself whether to ask or not, the question seemed to have come out on its own.

"Why are you so hot?" Erren automatically regretted the question as she felt her face heat up. Why was she so stupid? There were millions - maybe not that many - of ways she could have worded that question.

End of Chapter Six

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(If there are any mis-spellings, I'm so sorry. I'm doing my best. Thank you who reviewed!)

Red


	7. Wrong

I own nothing that does not belong to me.

* * *

Chapter Seven: Wrong

Scorpion had no idea why the girl was blushing. The question she asked wasn't anything he thought was anything vulgar. Feeling rather annoyed all day wasn't what Scorpion called fun - he laughed at the ridiculous, three letter word - so, pay-back was in order.

"I'll answer yours only when you answer mine," he paused and saw her features perk up. Smirking, he continued. "Why are you blushing?"

The question only intensified the shade of red on her face. She awkwardly tried to hide her uneaseiness by pulling a piece of her hair out of her face and tucking it behind her ear. The girl started to sputter something when Scorpion found himself enjoying the reaction a little _too _much.

Unfortunatly, the girl was quite attractive when color entered her cheeks. Scorpion had no intentions of finding someone for romantic purposes, but seeing the young girl's wide eyes and blushing features were causing too many thoughts - thoughts a ninja specter out for revenge shouldn't have.

So, Scorpion glared at the girl and allowed a slight growl to accompany his words. "Well, are you going to answer the question or not?"

Erren - Scorpion seemed to be calling her by her name more and more - stopped babbling and looked at the fire, concentrating on it.

"I'm blushing because of...the way I worded the question."

"What's wrong with the way you worded it?" Scorpion snorted.

She straightened but didn't take her eyes off of the fire. "Where I...come from, the word "hot" can be used as a...uh, term for someone good-looking." She paused and glanced up at Scorpion. Before she could continue, however, Scorpion began to laugh. Yes, the thought of him being good-looking was too much for Scorpion, even if the girl didn't mean it that way.

The girl let her tension go as she heard Scorpion's laughter. The ninja stopped soon after he started, and sighed.

"Alright," he started. "I'm not really alive. Therefore I...have abnormal things about me." Yes, like being _dead_.

It was silent for a few long moments before Scorpion broke it with the sound of him standing and walking to the entrance of the cave. With a frown, the ninja saw rain still falling.

"Looks like we'll be remaining here for a while." Scorpion voiced mostly to himself more than the girl. He had no problem traveling in bad weather - he just didn't want to harm the girl. She would probably get sick or something, which was something Scorpion didn't need. She was already injured.

Hours passed and the rain hadn't let up even slightly. If it was even possible, the storm had grew even more violent as time passed. Scorpion found himself surprised that there was barely any water in the cave. The water must have been running downhill somewhere or something. Scorpion frowned at the shrinking wood pile as he threw another piece on the flames. He could go and get some more, it'd just take some time for it to dry.

"All the more reason to get it now," he thought as he stood from his spot beside the cave wall.

Scorpion peered over his shoulder tward the girl. She was rubbing her ankle. Deciding to not ask, because he didn't really care, the ninja turned and walked out of the cave.

It was only about four o'clock - Scorpion guessed - and it almost looked like midnight. Must've been one hell of a storm. Scorpion also noticed how cold the rain was against his bare upper arms - it was only slightly annoying. _Nothing _compared to what that girl did to him.

After finding his desired amount of wood, Scorpion walked back to the cave. As he entered, he was met with an odd sight. Actually, it allowed him slight amusement.

The girl had stood somehow and had made her way half way to the entrance to the cave. Her feet were bare, and one of her pant legs - the side with the hurt ankle - were rolled up to her knee. She was barely standing as her pale fingers clutched the damp rock wall. She had been close enough to the opening that her clothes had gotten wet - not too badly, but enough to mat her piecy hair to her face and to cause her shirt to hang off of her in such a way that Scorpion had to take a double take. Not that she noticed, and he'd never tell her, but the girl had a nice little figure. Her waste didn't curve in a lot, just enough to dip down into her hips - which were nicely proportioned to her upper body. Her skin had a pinkish hue to it as the white shirt clung to it. Scorpion even found his eyes moving up to her chest...

But he stopped himself. He had no need what-so-ever for someone so useless and needy. He didn't really need anyone, actually. Especially in a sexual relationship. Love and romance were things long forgotten - but, unfortunatly lust hadn't made itself dissappear completely.

"Dammit, what are you doing? Just sit down." Scorpion ordered as he set down the wood and - rather roughly - grabbed the girl and placed her back where she was before he left.

"I didn't know where you...went. I didn't even hear you leave, so when I looked up and you were gone..." She let her sentence fade into silence as Scorpion glared down at her. She began biting her lip - clearly a sign of being nervous - and it drove Scorpion crazy. A lot more crazy than he wanted to be at that moment.

Scorpion felt the intense urge to reach out and -

Why was he dizzy? The more he thought about it, he had been dizzy all day. Surely he was not ill - even while possible it was unlikely. His answer came when he heard a sharp intake of breath from Erren.

"Your side is bleeding..." She choked out through her hands. Of course it was. That's why he was acting so strange, loss of blood. Made sense. Other wise he would not have such outrageous thoughts about the brat.

Now that his head was back in place, Scorpion looked at his side and sure enough, it was bleeding. Heavily, at that. Sighing, he peeled back the fabric surrounding the hole and was thankful it wasn't infected yet - or it at least didnt' seem infected.

The ninja grabbed a pouch that was strapped to his belt and opened it. He pulled out gauze and some kind of small bottle.

Erren watched as Scorpion carefully and masterfully worked on his side. She felt surprise as his long fingers carefully wrapped the wound with the cloth. His hands didn't seem like the kind to be so gentle. She felt her face heat up as she looked away. She almost felt like she was intruding on something personal. Shortly after she turned away, however, Erren felt completely stupid. What was this intrusion upon? She sighed to herself and calmed herself down while taking deep, slow breaths.

She allowed another peek toward the ninja after she had calmed down. The deliberate movements his hands made calmed her more than any of her own words could. She smiled as she thought of how much he had scared her and now he was calming her un-intentionally. Erren continued to observe the medical skills of Scorpion.

When the ninja had finished, Erren found herself dissappointed. As Scorpion stood and headed towards her however, she felt nothing but anticipation. He'd probably yell at her or something - he always seemed to do that when she hadn't a clue what she had done wrong. Yep, he was exactly like her father.

"Don't get up unless I tell you to or if I grab you, understood?" His words were short and very sharp. Erren swallowed - realizing her throat was dry - and nodded. She then licked her lips - they were also dry. Erren wished she would have brought some chap stick. Her lips were dry a lot - chap stick was her addiction.

The teen noticed Scorpion hadn't walked off. Was he going to yell at her? After waiting a couple of seconds with no movement, Erren looked up and gave a confused stare in Scorpion's direction.

"What's...wrong?" She asked in a quiet voice.

Scorpion felt his skin tingle - it hadn't stopped since she - Erren - had licked her lips. The simple action - though anything but erotic in nature due to the girl's ignorance - left him staring. Though, maybe her ignorance was what made the simple movement that much more inticing.

There was something definatly wrong with him. The girl was cursed or something. Scorpion had never felt anything - but hate - towards other people since he had died. Yes, there was something wrong with him. Why would he be wanting a brat that he had only met roughly a day before? Scorpion tried to think back - to remember something important...

...But found nothing of the sort. There was nothing out of place about her - besides the fact that she didn't belong there. Whatever had happened to him didn't matter. He was more than capable of handling himself. He had massive self-control.

Scorpion scowled to himself. She was far too weak to be anything to him - even if he simply lusted over her, the thought made him slightly ill.

There was definatly something going on - Scorpion knew that, at least.

End of Chapter Seven

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(Uh oh...what's going on? What _is_ wrong with Scorpion? You'll find out later. Hee hee. And no, I am not trying to make this go 'too fast'. I like to drag it out - long and dramatic. :)

(P.S. If there are any typos I'm sorry! I've read over it, like, twice...ha...ha...)

Red


	8. Blue

(Thank you who reviewed. Sorry to one of you for not getting this up on time...)

I own nothing that does not belong to me.

* * *

Chapter Eight: Blue

The rain finally decided to stop and the two were moving again. The storm had lasted for, (about) a whole day.

Scorpion was feeling normal - or, his usual self - as he roughly woke the girl from her sleep.

"It's stopped raining," was all he said as he stood above the girl's drowsy form. She rubbed her eyes and shakily stood.

Apparantly, however, she forgot about her ankle and as she stood on it, a yelp escaped her mouth. The girl nearly fell back down until Scorpion caught her by her arm and yanked her up.

"Judging by your actions I'd say your ankle isn't any better." Scorpion sighed and let go of her arm. He didn't even care that she almost fell - she should have been able to catch herself. "Can you walk at all?"

The girl took in a shaky breath and stood on both of her feet. She winced and quickly pulled up her injured ankle. Scorpion growled and in one swift motion, pulled the girl onto his back. Her reaction was a simple gasp.

The sky was cloudy and grey; everything was wet and every simple puddle Scorpion stepped in - why he wasn't stepping _around_ or over them, he had no clue - resulted in a wet leg. The ninja's anger lever found itself far beyond its normal height.

Luckily, right over the hill he was walking up, Scorpion saw roof-tops. His mood lightened only slightly however. People were annoying to deal with and he had no money. Hopefully there would be some nice old lady or something there to help the girl out. Surely there'd be someone there like that.

As the two walked into the gates Scorpion noticed everyone stop and stare at him. He growled and clenched his jaws together. He hated gawking.

Scorpion walked briskly through the villagers and decided he'd try another village - maybe one without suspicious stares. There was no end to the shocked looks as he continued forward. What were they looking at? Had they never seen a ninja before?

Seemingly out of no where, Scorpion suddenly felt the girl shift slightly on his back. She had somehow gone to sleep on the way and hadn't woken up yet. The slight movement came from her arms - which were wrapped around his neck, why he let her do it he didn't know - wrapping tighter around him. He'd almost forgot she was back there.

Just as he remembered the girl on his back, another feeling hit him - this one far harder than the girl moving her arms. As the girl finished moving, Scorpion felt that tingling feeling return to his body. The feeling he had the day before when the girl had licked her lips and he found himself watching intently. It was numbing this time however, much more powerful than the time before. Scorpion had to actually stop walking. He couldn't move.

She moved again. This time her legs tightened around his waist - his reaction was a faint moan. Scorpion felt the need for oxygen as she repeated the action. The feeling felt too good - it was actually _hurting _him. He didn't know how or where, there was just a numb pain in his body. He couln't even reason what was happening before he passed out.

Erren awoke when Scorpion had fallen forward. She quickly looked around and saw people staring, causing her face to reden. She removed herself from Scorpion and sat on her knees beside his still form.

"Scorpion," she called as she shook his shoulders. Erren didn't even know he could fall out - he never slept. It was odd seeing him like that. So vulnerable and open. Erren felt fear wash over her. What happened? Was he even ok?

After un-succesfully waking the ninja up, Erren reluctantly looked to a stranger standing near by. She stood, on her hurt ankle, and slowly walked to him.

"Sir," she said quietly. The man, an older gentleman, looked at Erren with wide eyes. Ignoring the strange look on his face, she asked him where the nearest doctor was. He told her, stuttering nervously, and Erren thanked him.

Erren took in a deep breath as she stared down at Scorpion's muscle-clad body. There was no way she could carry him anywhere. She couldn't even lift him off the ground for that matter. Letting out her deep breath, Erren knelt down and started the process of at least getting him on his back side. After that was done, Erren took a moment to rest. He was heavy; heavier than she first thought.

Erren decided to ask for help at that point, so she looked around and saw that most of the people who had been staring at her had started going on with their business again. Some were still watching with skeptical stares. Erren tried to get the attention of one of the people watching.

When she asked however, they turned and walked away. Erren was hurt by their rude behavior but didn't let it stop her. No one wanted to help her. She almost felt like crying, or maybe even cussing out loud. How could so many people be so un-caring? There had to be _somone_ who could help her. Who would be _willing_ to help her.

Just as she was about to give up and try to carry Scorpion by herself, Erren heard an odd hush around her. The absence of silence slowly reached to the people around her and she looked ahead of her.

There was a group of men - only five of them - all dressed in blue. All of them had on the same masks, except one. The one in the center front had a different mask and different clothes on. But they all had on blue. The one who was dressed differently must have been the leader. He looked like a leader.

As they approached, Erren felt a slight chill cool the air around her. Although that might have been her fear. She had no idea who or even what these men were. Slowly, she reached for Scorpion's belt. He had knives attached to it and Erren may not have known how to fight, but she didn't want to die. Yes, she was scared, but she froced herself to _defend_ herself. She frowned as she realized her hands were so shaky she couldn't use them properly. Erren's eyes widened as the men came closer and she was sitting there, freaking out.

The leader, Erren decided he was, anyway, stopped right in front of her. The tips of his boots almost touched her knees. Erren realized with shame that her entire body was shaking wildly. She truly _was_ pathetic. She couldn't even protect herself or fake she wasn't scared. She was scared, and there was nothing she could do about it. Luckily, however, she wasn't having an attack - that would end horribly.

The man knelt down - Erren then realized that his skin emmitted extreme cold - to Erren's level. Almost to her level, he was much taller than her, even while kneeling. Erren stared at the ground, eyes wide and body shaking. She truly felt pathetic and useless. She was probably going to die.

Instead, the stranger in blue asked a question. "Are you in need of help?"

Erren, startled by the un-expected question, shot her head up to meet yet another pair of solid white eyes. She gasped and staggered backwards slightly. She'd seen it before, she just wasn't expecting it. The man caught on and with one blink, his eyes were normal. A vibrant blue shined out of his iris's and Erren found herself in awe. His eyes were almost too pretty to be real.

Allowing a short laugh to escape his covered mouth, the man stood and held out his hand. "I apologize for that, I've just finished completing a...task." No matter how nice he sounded, there was an undertone of indifference. Erren got the feeling he didn't really care.

So, she cleared her throat and shook her head. There was something strange about the stranger in blue. "No, I'm...fine."

The man looked behind her to Scorpion. "What about your..." He stopped as his eyes grew wide. Erren felt worry hit her like a slap in the face. She automatically moved herself in front of Scorpion. The blue man shook his head.

"I won't harm either of you. Scorpion is just..." He paused and shifted slighlty. "...an old friend."

Erren doubted they were. She did not like this guy - he bothered her for some reason. She noticed the stranger had moved closer again and she moved away.

Not seeming to notice - or maybe he didn't care - Erren's movement away from him, the man offered his hand to Erren.

"My name is Sub-Zero. There is no need to be frightened of me, like I said, I will not harm you."

End of Chapter Eight

* * *

(Yay! My man made his appearance! Again, I apologize for any typos.)

Red.


	9. Annoyance

(Thank you who reviewed!)

I own nothing that does not belong to me.

* * *

Chapter Nine: Annoyance

Sub-Zero had no clue how Scorpion made it to Earthrealm but that didn't matter. Who was the young woman with him? Surely not the Shirai-Ryu's woman. Sub-Zero seriously doubted Scorpion could even fell anything _close _to love. Whoever she was, the head master of the Lin Quei needed answers.

Luckily Scorpion remained out-cold as Sub-Zero's men carried him to a nearby inn. The group needed rest anyway, so it was no trouble taking the ninja and his odd companion with them. The girl stayed quiet as the group entered the inn.

Actually, Sub-Zero noticed the girl didn't speak much. She would mostly nod or shake her head. He hadn't even gotten her name.

"What's your name?" Sub-Zero asked as he sat down across from the girl. The girl was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room watching a doctor examine Scorpion.

She waited for a moment before answering. "...Erren."

Sub-Zero detected slight annoyacne in her small voice but decided to ignore it. "How did you meet Scorpion of all people?" The question probably would make her angrier, but answers were needed...Well, they were _wanted _more than actually _needed_.

As Sub-Zero thought, a flash of anger crossed the girl's eyes. She stiffened and started kicking her feet back and forth.

". . ."

She didn't even respond, irking Sub-Zero slightly. Regardless, he continued, sounding un-detered. "Where are you from? Earthrealm?"

The girl turned toward him - not looking at his face - and placed her hands in her lap. "No."

Sub-Zero found himself surprised by the answer. "Then where..."

His question was interupted by the scream of the doctor. Sub-Zero rose from his seat and quickly made his way across the room. Scorpion had aparantly woken up.

When Sub-Zero saw that he wasn't, he cocked an eyebrow. After a moment, however, he found the reason behind the screaming. The doctor had removed Scorpion's mask, revealing his flaming, fleshless face. Relieved it wasn't anything serious, Sub-Zero simply instructed the mask to be put back on.

A small noise came from behind the Lin Quei warrior and he turned. The girl had stood and had her hands over her face. Aparantly she hadn't seen Scorpion's face. She hadn't been with him long, then. At least that answered one of the many questions he had.

Sub-Zero walked to the girl and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't be alarmed, it's just how he is." The girl didn't remove her hands from her face however and stood completely still for some time. What odd behaivor. Sub-Zero could honestly say he'd never seen a reaction like that.

Erren did not like the blue man's hand on her shoulder. It was cold and he bothered her. True, she didn't know him, but she was just annoyed by him. Erren removed her hands from her face and stared at Sorpion.

Yes, she was frightened by his face. That was definatly something she didn't expect. Why was he like that? He said he was dead but everything _looked _normal. Except his face, of course.

Erren sat back down and turned her chair away from the doctor and Scorpion. Unfortunatly, she faced the blue man's sitting form mere feet in front of her. She knew his name, but she didn't really care.

"Does he know what's wrong with him?" Erren asked. The blue man shrugged. How annoying.

"Not yet," was all he said, much to Erren's surprise. The guy liked to ask questions.

It was silent in the room until the doctor began packing his things. Sub-Zero - the blue guy - stood and walked over to him.

"It seems to be too much blood loss," the elderly doctor started. "But I can't be sure. Just keep him resting for a while longer and he should be...fine." The doctor was probably thinking about the flaming skull. Erren paled at the thought and watched the doctor leave in silence.

Erren didn't even know if she was actually concerned about Scorpion or not. He was mean to her and openly insulted her. She felt bad for not knowing how she felt, however. It seemed awful petty to not care about someone who saved your life just because _he _didn't.

"Where the hell am I?" A loud roar shook the room. Erren looked up to see Scorpion standing from the bed he'd been put in.

The blue man didn't seem surprised by the out-burst and stood. "An inn." He answered coolly. Scorpion glared over at the cold man and took a step forward.

"What are you doing here?" Growled the very angry Scorpion. Sub-Zero sighed and crossed his arms.

"The girl asked for help." Erren didn't actually ask him for help, he put it upon himself. Even though she did, in fact, need help.

Scorpion turned his glare over toward Erren. Erren frowned and looked away. She would probably never hear the end of it later.

"What are you doing back in Earthrealm? Aren't you supposed to be dead?" Sub-Zero asked.

Scorpion began a reply when the door opened. It was the guy from before with the hat. Sub-Zero seemed to know him as his eyes widened at his presence.

"Raiden?" So Raiden was his name.

"Sub-Zero, I'll explain everything. He paused and looked Erren over. "How are you?"

Erren was surprised by the concern and struggled to answer. "I...I'm fine."

"She hurt her ankle," Scorpion chimed in. Raiden narrowed his eyes in Scorpion's direction.

"How did that happen?" Erren quickly answered before Scorpion could.

"I fell," she said in her quiet voice. No one said anything for a few seconds. Erren almost felt like she was the one who caused the silence.

The silence didn't last as Raiden began explaining the current situation. He was mostly explaining to Sub-Zero but Erren found herself pretty ignorant of the whole thing. She was only half listening when Raiden first appeared. Something about her and being protected by Scorpion. Erren was glad she had the chance for a re-cap.

"I see." Sub-Zero murmered as he raised a hand to his masked chin.

Raiden let out a weary sigh and looked apologetically toward Erren. "I'm trying to find the portal from which you came, but the task is proving itself difficult." A silence lingered after the words were spoken. Erren found herself blushing over the fact that someone cared - even though if he - Raiden - didn't care about her, there would be monster consequences if he didn't find her way home. Even so, the concern felt good; especially after Scorpion's harsh and rather hateful presence.

So, Erren smiled and shook her head. "I'm grateful you're still trying."

The three men in the room - the other men in blue had left - stared at Erren's face for a good while; Erren estimated about two to three minutes. She didn't know why, but she didn't really think anything of it.

Scorpion realized with great anger that when Erren - the _girl_! - smiled he couldn't help but stare. He looked at Sub-Zero and Raiden and realized with even greater anger that they were also staring. What was so hypnotizing about this little nothing?

Scorpion took another look and even while regretting it, knew why she captivated. It was her eyes - the orbs were somehow captivating enough for one to find himself staring at them. Breaking the silence with a sigh, Scorpion happily - or as happily as he could be - noticed the other two men jerk in surprise. The ninja almost laughed out loud. Two of Earthrealm's greatest warriors were gawking at a not so special little girl.

"So this means that I have to continue "caring"," he emphasized the word with a slight pitch difference in his voice, "for this.." Scorpion paused as he looked the girl over. "...child."

Raiden sighed. "If she's _so_ much trouble, why don't I simply give somone else the task?" The thunder god looked at Sub-Zero.

Scorpion had no idea why, but his reaction to the suggestion made his blood boil. Maybe it was the fact that it was Sub-Zero, and Scorpion wasn't so fond of the said Lin Quei.

"If Scorpion is unable to - "

Sub-Zero wasn't able to finish the sentence; a flaming sword had to be dodged.

"I can do the damn job," the Shirai-Ryu started, sword still pointing at Sub-Zero, "and I _will _finish it." Scorpion quickly and effortlessly slid the sword back in it's sheath.

Sub-Zero, Scorpion noticed irritably, had a smug look on his face - or what he could see of it. "I apologize for doubting you. I was just stating that I'm willing to lend a hand."

Before a rather rude response could be voiced, Raiden spoke. "So it's settled - Scorpion will remain responsible for Erren's safety." Scorpion felt his eye twitch as Erren's name was spoken. He didn't like other people saying her name...

Even though he hadn't said her name more than _one time_. Scorpion hoped Raiden would hurry and take the girl back home - she was driving Scorpion crazy.

Crazier than he thought she was.

End of Chapter Nine

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(I am sorry for the typos - it seems as if there is no escape from them! Ha ha. I did not have my person read over this chapter because she is...busy at the moment. Again, sorry!)

Red.


	10. Force

(Thank you who reviewed; your reveiws mean more than you know.)

I own nothing that does not belong to me.

* * *

Chapter Ten: Force

The three men talked for a little while longer when Erren noticed something. There had been a doctor in the room - though, he was busy with Scorpion - and she hadn't had her ankle checked. She laughed as she realized it was her own fault; all she needed to do was ask for help. But she'd always been quiet when it came to things like that. There were usually people who needed more help than she did.

"...so funny?" A low, familiar voice ringed through Erren's ears. She shot her head up and saw all eyes on her. Aparantly her laughing caught Scorpion's attention. Probably annoyed him somehow. Erren cleared her throat and looked at her ankle.

"Well...it's nothing." She couldn't interupt their talking. It was probably important business that -

"Is your ankle bothering you?" Erren stared into those ice blue eyes again - this time finding them a bit more attractive than the first time; if that was _possible_. After a few moments which felt a lot longer than they actually were, Erren realized who she was blushing over and forced herself to look away.

"..A little." She admitted. Her ankle _was_ throbbing rather harshly. Sub-Zero caught her gaze again, a look on his face that seemed to ask her something. Shortly after _not_ figuring out what he wanted, the teen felt a cold hand grab hold of her sore ankle. She was about to protest and yank it away when she felt the cold slowly ebb the pain away. Erren even shut her eyes and let out a sigh of slight pleasure - it felt wonderful. Erren found it so comfortable that she almost nodded off. When Sub-Zero saw that, he stopped. Erren found herself frowing in dissapointment.

"Did that help at all?" He asked, the smirk on his lips seeping into his voice. Erren ignored that and nodded slowly.

"Now that we've wasted some time," Scorpion sighed, "we can continue our conversation."

Erren felt the words sting - she didn't want to interupt what they were doing, but at the same time was hurt by her not being seen as important. But what was new? It _was_ Scorpion, after all. Almost as soon as the last word left Scorpion's mouth however, Erren noticed a flicker of something flash across Sub-Zero's face.

"What's really a waste of time is asking you to finish this task." The cold warrior spat out. He stood and looked at Raiden. "I will gladly take responsibility for this child - it seems Scorpion doesn't know how to care for anyone besides himself." Those blue eyes were full of something - Erren had no idea what but she liked what she saw. The only thing that threw her off slightly was the pained tone in his voice as he spoke.

Scorpion stared wide eyed at Sub-Zero - enraged. He pulled out his spear and quickly threw it at the blue clad ninja.

Raiden was faster, however and stopped the attack before it hit. The thunder god sighed and glared at both warriors. "Scoprion, regardless of what you think, Erren's health is quite important." He paused as he faced Sub-Zero. "I understand your frustration, but Scorpion doesn't have as many priorities as you do. He's the only one who can do this."

Scorpion snorted as he crossed his arms. "Frustrated? What does that mean?" Erren stopped listening as the three men continued talking. She was still stuck on how Sub-Zero had taken up for her - it was flattering. She felt awful for being so rude to him earlier. Maybe he wasn't _so _bad.

Even though Erren _was_ flattered by Sub-Zero's kindness, however, she couldn't help but feel pure annoyance when she looked at him. Realizing nothing could be done about that, Erren sighed and just accepted it. Afer sighing out loud, Erren froze and slowly looked at Scorpion. As she expected, he was giving her a very scary look. She felt her muscles tense along with her hands tightening into fists. Scorpion scared her horribly; it was like the time, the only time, she watched a scary movie. She just wanted to hide somewhere and never come out. This time she couldn't hide anywhere though. That would only lead to complications.

So she decided when she got home, she would hide under he covers for a good while. She felt most comfortable in her bed. She'd put on some Alt rock and calm herslf down. Pretend nothing happened. She stopped herself from laughing as she thought of how she'd never see a ninja the same again.

Erren absently looked down at her lap and her eyes slowly directed themselves at her shirt. She had blood and dirt all over her - everywhere. She brushed a hand through her hair and frowned. It as well was extremely dirty. She neded a shower and a new set of clothes. She _might _could get a bath, but where could she get some clothes?

Nervously, she looked toward the three men. Erren must have looked awful, which of course made her uncomfortable, making her nervous. Her nervousness quickly intensified as she saw Scorpion _still_ staring at her. The look on his face was one of pure disgust. She _did_ look horrible. Erren bit her bottom lip and looked at the floor. She rubbed her face and felt something wet on the palm of her hand. She was tearing up - she hand't even realized it. Not realizing that she was about to cry only doubled her reasons _to _cry. She was so pathetic.

The next thing Erren knew she was bawling into her hands. She couldn't take it anymore - the constant glaring, the harsh tones, and most of all the disgusted looks she recieved. She wanted to go home. She wanted a shower. She wanted to be anywhere where she was actually cared for; preferably home.

Scorpion felt his eyes widen and his heart skip a beat - funny, he was dead yet he had a heart beat - when he heard the awful noise of Erren sobbing. Not realizing what he was doing, the ninja quickly made his way to Erren's sitting form. His body acted on its own, he couldn't control it. Which, actually frightened him more than he liked to admit.

Scorpion forced himself to stop long enough for Sub-Zero and Raiden to reach the girl first, however. He feared if he reached her first he'd do something he'd regret. The way he reacted to her crying left him wanting to know what was _wrong_ with him. He'd honestly no recollection of the last time he had felt that way. Maybe when he was alive, but he couldn't be sure. Scorpion was genuinely scared to see how far his uncontrolled actions would take him.

"Erren," Raiden said slowly as he calmly stared - or tried to - into the girl's eyes. The gril wouldn't look up for anything. Scorpion used all the strength he had to _not _shove Raiden out of the way and calm her himself.

Then Sub-Zero stepped in. He slipped a hand over her upper back and began rubbing her shoulder blades gently. The girl removed her hands from her face and stared at the Lin Quei. Those eyes of hers stunned - even though Scorpion wasn't the one she was looking at, he was rendered thoughtless for a few good seconds. What was it about her eyes that caused such shock?

Erren - the girl - had calmed down but was still staring directly at Sub-Zero.

"Feeling better?" He asked lightly. Scorpion wanted to run his sword through the man in blue but didn't. Sub-Zero was the only thing keeping Scorpion from doing something regretable.

Erren instantly started to cry again as the question was asked. After a few more sobs, she responded weakly. "W-where's the...bathroom?" Sub-Zero cocked an eyebrow - Scorpion had to grab his hand to stop it from grabbing his sword. It was a simple question that needed an answer.

So Scorpion answered it himself. "The bath house is on the right side of the building." Everyone in the room seemed shocked by the somewhat random outburst by the Shirai-Ryu.

Erren stared wide eyed at him. "How did you know that..?" Scorpion rolled his eyes. What kind of question was that? She could have just...whatever. Scorpion sighed and crossed his arms.

"Ninja," was all he said as he pointed at himself.

End of Chapter Ten

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(I am not trying to make Sub-Zero annoying, but he annoys Erren. Ha ha. I find it funny that some of you think he's annoying. He's my favorite character out of Mortal Kombat so writing him like this is kinda hard. Also, there will be no ErrenxSub-Zero. I've kinda thought of it, and I've even had some good ideas to dramatize the story a bit more, but no. There will be no Erren and Sub-Zero action. Nor ErrenxRaiden...yeah, I've thought of that too. Wouldn't Scorpion be outraged?)

(Hee hee)

Red


	11. Affected

(A/N: This story takes place sometime during Deception. You know, when Scorpion was looking for Quan Chi and wanting to kill him? Yeah. I just remembered to put that, sorry! Also, thank you for reviewing or reading this story!)

I own nothing that does not belong to me.

* * *

Chapter Eleven: Affected

Scorpion found himself bored as Raiden escorted Erren to the bath house. Sub-Zero had left to have a word with his men, so Scorpion was left alone in an unbelievably quiet room, sitting in a chair in a corner farthest from the door. If the ninja wasn't in a bad mood before he sure was then. Scorpion felt the dull ache of disgust settle in as he realized something - he was sulking.

What the hell could he be sulking about? Sure, he was acting strange, which caused all of the odd happenings that went on between him and the girl, but there was nothing to sulk about. Scorpion didn't sulk.

Feeling his frown deepen, the specter sighed and stood to stretch. he was getting worked up too easily. The girl would soon be out of his life - after-life, whatever the hell you will - and he could get back to bigger and better things. He paused at the thought of what these proclaimed better things were. He would roam the Nether-realm hoping to find Quan Chi and destroy him. Scorpion gave himself a small nod as he decided to double his efforts to find the bastard. The sooner he did, the sooner he would have nothing to bother him. Justice had to be served.

A sudden chill filled the room and Scorpion lifted his head to see Sub-Zero standing just a few feet away from him. Scorpion frowned again. His sharp senses hadn't been so sharp lately. Actually, to be more accurate, his senses had been failing him since Erren - the GIRL - had shown up. The thought left him feeling eerily open.

"There's something I'd like to discuss with you about Erren." Sub-Zero said evenly, almost flatly; the only thing keeping the statement from being monotone was the slight worry lacing the words. Scorpion raised his gaze to meet the Lin Quei's.

"Like what?" The ice-man had better not start lecturing about the way Scorpion treated the brat. Scorpion honestly didn't care about her at that moment in time.

Sub-Zero shifted un-easily before he spoke. "She has...an affect on me that makes it difficult to think clearly." Scorpion stared, his eyes widening with every word. Sub-Zero snorted as he continued. "I've noticed a change in your behaivor - though slight, the change is noticable. So, I decided to talk to you about it."

Scorpion's eyes quickly narrowed as the words sunk in. "What are you implying?" It sounded like he was saying Scorpion was weak enough to succumb to that brat's freakish way of throwing people completely off. Yes, he had passed out, but besides that one and only moment of weakness, Scorpion couldn't think of any other.

"Don't turn this into anything bigger than it should be," Sub-Zero sighed. "I'm only trying to figure this thing out."

"...If you have to know, yes, she has had some...affect on me as well." Scorpion didn't think too much into it; some things were better left where they were. Certain recollections left the Shirai-Ryu dizzy. Scorpion inwardly berated himself - how could he be so weak? Mere memories left him weak in the knees and in the head.

Sub-Zero didn't seem surprised by the confession, but he _did _seem worried. Scorpion hadn't even noticed anything off about Sub-Zero. There was only that one moment when both Sub-Zero and Raiden had their jaws on the floor, staring at the little nothing. Of course, Scorpion had stared as well.

Could that mean Sub-Zero had better self-control than Scorpion? Scorpion wrinkled his nose at the thought. No, it just meant Scorpion was affected far worse by the girl than anyone else. Also, did that mean the girl had affected Raiden as well? Surely not.

"You've been with her longer; what do you think could be the cause?" Sub-Zero's voice slashed through Scorpion's thoughts, annoying him slightly. The ninja thought for a minute before answering.

The only conclusion Scorpion could come up with was her eyes. The girl's eyes left him stunned and feeling awkward. Scorpion then remembered the time when he fainted - the brat hadn't even looked at his face when that happened. That incident, however, was staying with Scorpion and Scorpion alone.

"Her eyes have some sort of...hypnotizing quality about them." Scorpion finally answered. He looked up to see Sub-Zero deep in thought. Ah, he probably realized how captivating those eyes were.

"That very well may be what it is." He paused and stared evenly at Scorpion. "However, we need to be careful - when she's anywhere near, our senses seem to fail." Scorpion rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Well, aren't you the - "

Scorpion barely dodged the kunai thrown at him. The small pieces of metal hit the wall behind him as he landed from the back-flip he had used to dodge the attack. The ninja scanned the area quickly with sharp eyes, finding a rather large figure standing by the window. Scorpion only allowed himself less than a second to check on Sub-Zero - not that he cared about the LIn Quei, it was just he needed to know if the man was still standing.

Sub-Zero was standing - behind stranger by the window. The head master of the LIn Quei had successfully lodged his frozen hand through the man's chest. Blood spilled out of the fatal wound and onto the floor in a large puddle. The attacker fell with a loud noise as he hit the floor. Scorpion sclowed, he could have done that.

Scorpion started to say something to the cold warrior when he saw a dark figure appear behind Sub-Zero. The Shirai-Ryu swiftly pulled out his spear and threw it toward Sub-Zero, quickly re-directing the roped weapon to miss Sub-Zero and impale itself into the figure's shoulder. With a short roar, Scorpion pulled the second assailant into the room. Scorpion walked to the injured man and knelt to his level.

"Who sent you?" Scorpion roughly grabbed the man's bleeding shoulder and squeezed. After the stranger finished squawking, he merely smirked widely. Scorpion growled and removed his hand from the bleeding shoulder. After a few good seconds Scroprion jabbed his fingers into the wound and removed the spear; shortly afterwards he broke the man's neck with a flick of his wrists.

Sub-Zero's sigh almost caught Scorpion off guard. Scorpion turned to face the LIn Quei. "What?"

"After asking one question and without much torture, you kill him." Sub-Zero's glare finally reached Scorpion's line of vision and the dead warrior snorted.

"He was pissing me off," Scorpion responded dryly. There was no need to to get angry over something so - Hey, Sub-Zero had killed the other man without even asking him anything and there he was getting onto Scorpion about interrigation!. Scorpion glared. "At least _I_ tried."

Sub-Zero completely ignored Scorpion and started for the door. Scorpion cocked an eyebrow. "Where are you going?"

"To check the rest of the area. There are probably more lurking around."

Erren decided she didn't like bath houses all that much. Even though this had been her first time being in one, she would happily make it her last as well.

It was crowded, Erren was completely naked in front of women she'd never met before; and most of all, every single women in there was beautiful. Erren didn't want to un-wrap her towel and get in the water. She'd probably get laughed at. So, she stood there for a moment, staring at the water...

...Until a pretty blonde woman not much older than her asked her if she was alright. Erren's face redened even more as she stuttered a reply.

The woman laughed, her voice sounded like wind chimes blowing in an early summer breeze. Erren wished her voice was that pretty - actually, she wished she _was_ that pretty. "Oh, don't be nervous - we're all women here." She gently pushed Erren toward the water. "No one in here is going to laugh at you."

Erren took a deep breath and slowly removed her towel. When the space grew quiet, the teen thought she was going to cry again. Before she could run off and hide somwhere, however, she heard something fly by her head and then something shoved her into the warm bath water. Erren heard screams and curses as her body was weighed down to the bottom of the shallow pool. Luckily, as soon as she was pushed down, she was lifted. She coughed and struggled for air - Erren wasn't expecting to be dunked. Just as she caught her breath, Erren felt something soft wrap around her shoulders and tighten around her waist. The teen had seen those strong but steady hands before; but this time they were panicked and not so gently.

"Come on," roared Scorpion. He had grabbed her bridal style and was leaping over the bath house wall. Erren felt her face burn - he had see her naked! She stared down at the robe he had draped around her - it was just a white bath robe. Erren anxiously looked up at Scorpion and almost stopped breathing.

"You're...not Scorpion." Erren uttered. The figure looked down at her angrily. His appearance quickly changed as a smirk stretched across his face. It was a stranger - a man dressed in black and brown. Some sort of ninja, Erren guessed.

"You're just like the master said," he said in a scary, unfamiliar voice. Erren found herself not wanting to know who this master person was.

Just as the thought gave way to an over-load of scarier images, Erren felt the stranger's body jerk backwards. She flew out of his arms and onto the ground - she gasped as she felt something snap under her. It was her arm. Before she could react to the pain, however, a loud voice rang out.

"Get over here!"

End of Chapter Eleven

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(Ok, see you guys next chapter hopefully! Again, my person is not reading over this - she just left the building! Gah... So, I read over it. Ha...ha..)

(Sorry for all the typos...I suck.)

Red :x


	12. Damage

(A/N: Sorry for the wait everyone! I've been 'busy'.)

I own nothing that is not mine.

* * *

Chapter Twelve: Damage

Sub-Zero watched as Scorpion quickly and rather easily ripped the strange ninja's body in half. The Shirai-Ryu then tossed the two pieces to the side, the blood on the once body somehow spraying itself all over Scorpion. Sub-Zero didn't mind gore all that much - he was the headmaster of the Lin Quei, after all.

As Sub-Zero watched Scorpion cuss and carry on about the blood on his face, the blue-clad warrior heard a small noise to his right. His eyes moved toward the said noise and felt his eyes widen in worry. Erren had seen the whole thing. The girl had probably never seen anything so violent - Sub-Zero concluded as he thought back to her quiet and somewhat nervous behavior - the girl was surely disturbed.

Erren's hands weren't over her face, however, causing slight uneasiness to settle in Sub-Zero's mind. She usually covered her face when something bad was sure to happen. This time, rather unfortunately, her arms were limp at her sides, leaving her wide eyes to stare at the broken corpse.

Scorpion apparently oblivious to the damage done, walked over to the damage done, and walked over to Erren and breathed out a horribly, annoyingly aggravated sigh. Sub-Zero began his short and fast paced trek toward the dead warrior before he did something completely harsh.

"Are you alright, brat?" Scorpion asked as he held out his hand. Sub-Zero actually stepped and stared in shock. Even with the rude name-calling and exasperated tone, the mere sight of Scorpion offering help was almost too much.

Sub-Zero was so shocked that he had missed Erren falling face forward toward the ground. The Lin Quei headmaster automatically reacted - but stopped when he saw Erren was safely caught and hauled into bare arms.

"What are you staring at like that?" Scorpion asked as he stepped past Sub-Zero's nearly gawking form. Sub-Zero's snapped himself out of his somewhat uncharacteristic state and turned to follow Scorpion.

Scorpion had only thought about what he had done after he had done it. The brat was too damn fragile. It wasn't his fault, either. She was like that before he had 'found' her. Also, his body had reacted before he could stop it - he had ripped someone in half before he knew it. Maybe it was pent up frustration - Scorpion hadn't felt anything but frustration for the last three days. It made sense; which was enough for Scorpion to conclude that it wasn't technically his fault…

…No matter how hard Sub-Zero was glaring at him. "If you're going to say something, say it." Scorpion said as he slowed his pace.

Sub-Zero snorted as he spoke, "Do I need to say anything?"

"No," Scorpion spit out sharply. "Don't you patronize me - it wasn't my fault."

Sub-Zero seemed humored by the comment. "Yes. The enemy _forced_ you to rip him half."

Scorpion felt a random vein in his neck twitch. Oh what he would give to shut that Lin Quei bastard up permanently. "…He didn't, but you're close to - "

A flash filled the area with light, causing the two warriors to stop their bickering.

"Enough," Raiden said loudly. The thunder god stepped to Scorpion, still searching for his vision, and sighed as he set his eyes on Erren.

"What was the point of that? I mean, honestly - "

"She looks pitiful." Raiden said as he wiped some blood off the girl's face - it was from the ninja Scorpion had killed. The blood covered Scorpion which in turn covered the girl. Scorpion snorted as Raiden continued to stare at the child in his arms.

"What's new?"

Scorpion noticed something flicker across Raiden's face and quickly found out what that was - anger.

"You - " Before Scorpion heard what the angry Raiden had to say, the girl in his arms shifted and gasped very loudly. It was something quite unexpected - the girl had never been loud about anything; why now?

Scorpion bent his head forward to get a better look at Erren. Nothing seemed wrong; she was just covered in blood, and that wasn't really anything to - Scorpion sighed as he realized what was wrong. Of course; she saw all the blood on her and -

"It's hurts," she yelled as she squeezed her eyes shut. Scorpion noticed Erren's hand instantly jerk up to her other arm. Her yelling, though surprising, was something Scorpion couldn't process properly. The brat had never been loud, this was the first time the ninja had heard her voice so..well, loud.

"What hurts?" Raiden's voice was the only thing Scorpion heard - the screaming and patning were too foreign to be recognized.

"My arm…" Erren whimpered pitifully. Scorpion felt his body literally jerk to the sound - it just hit him. The girl's arm was broken. She had fallen on it earlier - which was not his fault - when Scorpion had speared the kidnapper ninja.

"What's wrong?" Sub-Zero's voice reached Scorpion's ears and the Shirai-Ryu snapped out of his 'delirium'.

"Her arm," Raiden answered in an even tone. "Erren, do you think it's broken?"

Scorpion felt the body in his arms take a deep breath; the girl's upper torso pressed into his chest. "I…I don't know."

"Where did that doctor go?" Sub-Zero asked. Raiden turned away, speaking as he did so.

"I'll find someone." Shortly after the comment was uttered - not even a second - the thunder god was gone.

"Scorpion," Sub-Zero called as he stared at the ninja. "Maybe you should lay her down on the ground."

Scorpion knelt down and gently laid the girl on the ground. She tensed as her back touched the ground. Erren was moving everything but her arms. The girl's legs wildly rubbed against each other 0 like she was trying to kick herself. Scorpion noticed the constant movements were causing her robe to ride up. He quickly slid the soft material back over her bare legs, all the while thinking of how futile the act was. She would just end up doing it again.

"Erren, would you let us check your arm?" Sub-Zero asked slowly. The girl swallowed back a sob and nodded. Sub-Zero slowly pried the girl's hand - death grip off of her arm. The Lin Quei almost had her hand away when Erren jerked it back to it's original position. Again, Sub-Zero began prying.

The next time he got the hand off, however, Scorpion grabbed it and made sure it stayed away from the girl's arm. Nodding a thank you - making Scorpion frown - Sub-Zero continued by slowly wrapping his fingers around the girl's much smaller wrist. After completing that, the blue clad warrior began moving the arms away from the girl's body.

"No," Erren gasped as she jerked. Scorpion felt the hand in his wrap it's fingers through his fingers and squeeze tightly.

"Come on," Sub-Zero tried his best at coaxing. "It has to be done."

The girl's jaws were clenched together, making her look angry. Regardless however of mean appearance, her voice was small. "S-sorry…"

Sub-Zero laughed lightly, a noise Scorpion found himself wanting to stop, and slowly lifted the girl's arm again. "No, it's understandable."

Scorpion felt the small fingers in his hand tighten immensely as Erren's arm was raised. That was when the feeling - the numbering, painful one - returned. Scorpion felt all of the air in his lungs escape through his mouth. When he proceeded in breathing back in, nothing came. He wasn't breathing.

End of Chapter Twelve

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(Again, I'm sorry for the wait. I hope this was a decent chapter and I'll try to get the next one up as soon as I can.)

Red


	13. Fixable

(A/N: Thank you who reviewed. Sorry for the wait _again_. Ha ha. Ok, I honestly don't know when any of this takes place, so whatever I said before, strike that. This is AU...but we all knew this.)

I own nothing that does not belong to me.

* * *

Chapter Thirteen: Fixable

Scorpion ignored Sub-Zero's protesting yelling as he rn off. The specter had no clue as to where he was running, he just needed to get away from the girl. There was something wrong with the brat - she always seemed to cause Scorpion harm when she was near him.

Fortunately for the Shirai-Ryu, his breathing returned as he stopped running. He found himself in the middle of a crowded street. Of course the people were staring - Scorpion thought back to when he first entered the village and frowned. The people were, to Scorpion anyway, nothing to respect.

Deciding to not grace the villagers with words, Scorpion turned and began walking back toward where he had come.

Upon returning to Sub-Zero, Scorpion received a rather hateful look. Ignoring the glare, the ninja knelt down beside the Lin Quei. "Where's Raiden?"

Sub-Zero sighed. "He hasn't returned with the doctor yes." Scorpion was thankful that Sub-Zero didn't say anything about the strange get away earlier.

"What could be taking him so long?" Scorpion felt a growl in his words and quickly - before Sub-Zero could take notice - spoke again. This time, there was no growl. "He's a god, why should something to small take any amount of time?"

Sub-Zero couldn't answer due tot he strike of lightning mere inches away form him. Both Sub-Zero and Scorpion fell backwards from shock. They weren't expecting that.

"Because the doctor was killed in the attack." Raiden's words sounded like a sigh. "Along with others."

Scorpion found himself not so grieved by the news - the villagers, or what he'd seen of them, weren't much to speak of. So what if a few died?

"Do you know who or what attacked us?" Sub-Zero asked as he gained his composure. He had to actually pick himself off of the ground.

Raiden's frown deepened. "No."

Scorpion felt anger rise in him as the information, or, lack there of, was taken in. "How do you _not_ know? Aren't you the protector of this realm?"

The thunder god glared at the specter. "We'll worry about that later, right now we need to find a way to fix her arm." He paused and his teeth clenched together. "Also, don't go telling me about how poorly a job I'm doing - look at your charge, she doesn't' look too healthy at the moment."

Scorpion's mouth fell open. "You can't blame _me_ for - "

"I can. You were put in _charge_ of her care and safety."

"_You _were with her when those strange ninja attacked; you _assured_ me - " Scorpion's mocking tone was apparently too much for Raiden. The thunder god grabbed the Shirai-Ryu by the shoulder and threw him into a nearby building.

"I'm beginning to think you're the wrong choice for something so important." Raiden's words were laced with anger. He turned to face Sub-Zero, who was still with Erren. "I hate to ask this, but would you - "

Sub-Zero shook his head. "I know Scorpion hasn't proved himself capable of the task, but he is the only one who can do it. Trust me, Raiden." The Lin Quei's words stunned the protector of Earth-realm.

"What makes you so sure?" Raiden asked. Earlier Sub-Zero seemed almost eager to take he girl away from the ninja-specter. Now he had complete confidence in him.

"Let's just say he was _made_ for the job." Sub-Zero's smirk seeped into his voice, throwing Raiden off completely. Sub-Zero had lied earlier while talking to Scorpion - he had no weakened senses while around Erren, he just noticed Scorpion _did_. When he first realized this, he was more than willing to take the girl. Scorpion could slip up and get the girl killed. But, as the headmaster of the Lin Quei witnessed Scorpion rip someone in _half_ for the girl, he realized there wasn't anyone better for the job.

Raiden sighed. "Alright. I'll take your word for it." Just as he finished his sentence, Scorpion picked himself up.

"What the hell - "

You will continue protecting this girl. I don't want to see anymore injuries on her, understand?"

Scorpion blinked a couple of times before finally answering. "...Yes." He didn't want to be thrown into a wall again.

As the three men were talking, Erren was trying to block out the pain as much as possible. Surely there was a reason she wasn't being treated. She looked up at Sub-Zero, who was saying something to Raiden. "Wh-what's..." Erren hated to be rude and interrupt a conversation, but her arm was killing her.

The blue clad man's eyes widened in realization as Erren's tiny voice made itself known. He quickly looked back towards Raiden and asked something. He nodded after a moment and looked back at Erren. Shortly after, he picked her up gently and began walking somewhere.

Erren simply shut her eyes and continued to ignore the pain as much as she could. She even ignored the fact that the three men had probably forgotten about her while they were talking...

Scorpion noticed as he followed Sub-Zero and Raiden how much he didn't like Sub-Zero holding Erren. This wasn't the first time he felt this, either. Scorpion argued with himself that it was _not_ jealousy - that was impossible, he'd only met the brat a couple of days before - it was simply because he was the one given the task and didn't want to make himself look incompetent.

Deciding that hte feeling _wasn't_ anything to act upon, Scorpion thought of something else. Who were those strange ninja who attacked? Clearly, they were after the girl. The villagers who died merely because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Surely no one would want the brat for -

"...about?" Sub-Zero's voice cut into Scorpion's thoughts. Scorpion automatically responded with a

"What?"

"What was wrong? Why did you run off?" Scorpion noticed Raiden was gone, so he answered with no worries. The ninja wasn't afraid of Raiden, he just didn't want to seem incapable of completing anything.

"That strange feeling came back," he answered. Sub-Zero nodded and looked ahead.

"I thought you were going to faint."

Scorpion found himself offended by the comment. "..and why would I faint?"

Sub-Zero shrugged. "Why should I know? I'm just telling you how I saw it."

There was a pause in noise before Scorpion spoke again. "Where'd Raiden go? Throwing a hissy-fit?"

Sub-Zero seemed to ignore the childish insult and answered. "He had to leave to do something or other."

"So where are we taking the girl?"

"To the nearest doctor - there's a small hut right outside of this village where some old woman lives. Some villager said that she can completely heal Erren's arm."

Scorpion snorted. "A witch?" Sub-Zero shrugged again.

"It's better than what we have."

Scorpion sighed. "We don't have anything - oh."

Sub-Zero laughed while Scorpion rolled his eyes. That wasn't funny enough to _laugh _at...

End of Chapter Thirteen

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(Alright, that's that. I don't think there are many mistakes. I hope you enjoyed it and can't wait for the next chapter. Actually, I hope you can wait..it _might_ be a little bit before I put it up...but I hope not.)

XxXRedXxX


	14. Nonrealizations

(A/N: Thank you who reviewed, it's much appreciated. Also, sorry for the wait on this chapter.)

I own nothing that is not mine.

* * *

Chapter Fourteen: Non-realizations

As the group approached the small hut, Scorpion felt something like worry flare in his chest. For some unknown reason he thought the woman was a fortune teller - she was claimed a witch, it wasn't that far of an assumption - and would somehow end up telling him something he didn't want to know. It was actually rather funny - did Scorpion even _have_ a future? He was already dead and had nothing to look forward to - with the exception of getting revenge on a certain sorcerer - so being nervous about a future he didn't have was flat out pointless.

The small building was…bigger than what Scorpion imagined. It was a good size for a hut- it looked like a large house. The only difference being it was actually in the shape of a hut; which, Scorpion realized, was pretty much a house…

"Are you going to stand there gawking or follow me in?" Sub-Zero asked. The Shirai-Ryu heard the mocking undertone and turned his 'gawking' into glaring.

"Don't talk to me," Scorpion spat out as he stepped ahead of the Lin Quei. Sub-Zero tried not to laugh at the - childish - comment and followed silently.

Upon entering the building, a black cat ran through the door. Not that it mattered; it was just a cat…that happened to be black. The cat took it's place on a high shelf and peered down at it's owners new visitors. Scorpion tried scaring it off with a death glare but the cat simply stared at him.

The room was dark - the whole house was probably dark. There were a few candles in the room but nothing more. The windows were covered with makeshift curtains and to make it seem darker, all of the furniture was dark colored.

"Is anyone here?" Sub-Zero asked loudly. The two men waited for a good minute, and no one came out. Scorpion sighed and turned toward the door.

"She's apparently not here; let's go - " The front door opened quickly and a small figure - barely - filled the door way. Sub-Zero and Scorpion stared wordlessly as the stranger stood still, studying the two warriors with half-lidded eyes.

"I apologize for not being here earlier, I was on a walk." The woman looked to be in her sixties or seventies - too old to be on a walk. Her frame was extremely small; she had to have been only four feet tall.

Sub-Zero stepped forward, nodding politely at the old woman. "We need you assistance in…" The Lin Quei's sentence faded away as the old woman examined Erren's arm - how'd she get over there so fast?

"Yes, yes. This girl is special," she let the words sink in to see the two men's reactions. Then, she waited for the question.

"What do you mean, "special"?" Scorpion asked as he peered over the woman's shoulder - not a hard feat; he only had to stand behind her.

The small woman sighed and decided to ignore the dead warrior's question. She raised her gaze to Sub-Zero and smirked at the slight tightening of his muscles as she stared at him. Men were so easily frightened no matter how powerful.

"Could you stand by your friend?" she said the word friend as her eyes quickly darted in Scorpion's direction. "I need some space."

Sub-Zero stood and took a spot beside Scorpion, as he was instructed. Scorpion scowled behind his mask - here was Sub-Zero, the _headmaster_ of the Lin Quei, taking orders from some dried up shrimp. Before Scorpion could voice his thoughts however, the said shrimp began mumbling something and waving her fingers up and down over Erren's arm. Scorpion bit hislip so he wouldn't laugh. It sounded as if she was trying to remember something and decided to torture the air by speaking her thoughts aloud. The finger thing was just flat out funny, no explanation needed.

After a few more moments of mumbling, the woman stopped and tucked her hands behind her back. The two warriors remained silent - even though one of them wanted desperately to say something. Finally, the little woman spoke.

"Her arm is healed." The tone of her voice almost sounded cocky - of course, she probably _was_. Scorpion walked to Erren's sleeping form and, as gently as he could, examined her arm. He honestly couldn't believe it - her arm _was_ healed. The Shirai-Ryu looked at the old woman skeptically.

"What…"

"If you're going to ask me some stupid question, don't." The small woman said sharply as she walked toward a small table in the center of the room. She began examining some small trinket as she spoke again. "It's healed, now go."

Scorpion growled, but did his best to keep himself from attacking the old woman. Sub-Zero noticed this and decided it was time for him to step in. "Thank you," he said as he nodded in Scorpion's direction. Scorpion sighed and grabbed Erren from her spot, heading for the door.

Scorpion never really liked magic users - the last sorcerer he dealt with didn't end up so well; he ended up being fooled. So when the little old witch told them to go, even though he was aggravated by being _told_ what to do, he wasn't going to be told twice. Yes, she helped them, but even so she was still a witch.

Scorpion felt a hand rest on his shoulder and he quickly turned his head. "What is it?" He asked Sub-Zero; there was a look of worry in the man's eyes and Scorpion could only worry himself.

"The old woman wants to see you alone," the cold warrior said as he urged Scorpion to give Erren to him. "I'll watch her while you're gone."

"It won't be too long a visit." The ninja snorted as he walked back in the house. The old woman was sitting in a chair in the far left corner of the room - probably the darkest part of the room - holding the black cat from before. The feeling returned to Scorpion that had presented itself earlier when he first stepped into the house - he had no idea why he was nervous, it was just an old woman.

"What is it?" He asked impatiently. Scorpion did _not_ want to spend any more time than necessary with the old woman; even though she was no real threat.

Her wrinkled smile instantly peaked the warrior's apprehension. "I just wanted to tell you to take good care of that child - if you don't, you might lose more than you thought possible."

Scorpion cocked an eyebrow. "…That's all?" He laughed and turned to the door; that _child_ was nothing more than a child. The brat was just something to protect, like an expensive artifact being taken to a king. There was no sentimental value for something that one didn't care about. "What could I possibly lose? I have _nothing_."

The woman's smirk never left her face. "That is true," she paused and the cat she was holding ran off. "…but that's not the case when you so happen to _gain_ something."

Sub-Zero watched as Scorpion left the house, relieved nothing happened. "What did she want?" Scorpion shook his head; Sub-Zero then noticed that the warrior was extremely angry for some reason.

"…nothing." Scorpion said as he brushed past the Lin Quei. Sub-Zero sighed and followed the now pissed ninja.

"What - " Sub-Zero cut himself off as he felt the body in his arms move and make noise. He looked down and saw two, half lidded yet bright orbs staring up at him. "Scorpion, stop. She's awake." Scorpion didn't even slow his pace.

"Scorpion," Sub-Zero almost yelled. What was wrong with him? The warrior began to go after the fleeting form of Scorpion when something moved to his right. He quickly placed Erren on the ground and scanned the immediate area. Someone had been following them the entire time. Sub-Zero growled under his breath. "Come out; I know you're here."

There was a pause before the figure made itself known visible. Sub-Zero cocked an eyebrow as he realized the figure was someone he knew.

"Johnny Cage…?"

End of Chapter Fourteen

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(…yes, Johnny Cage. I'm assuming they know each other - remember, this is slight AU…or, a lot AU, whatever. More characters will be introduced as the story continues, so be warned. XD You didn't think Sub-Zero would be in here forever, did you? …even though I want him to, I won't. It might make a bit more sense in the next chapter, so don't freak out.)

Red


	15. Changes

(Thank you who reviewed - I'm sorry this chapter took a little longer to put up. I hope you're all enjoying this as much as I am.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing that is not mine.

* * *

Chapter Fifteen: Changes

Johnny was pretty much minding his own business when he was visited by a certain thunder god. As odd as that was, the request Raiden asked of the martial artist was stranger still.

"…Ok, so you want me to what, exactly?" Johnny asked after Raiden explained the situation at hand. The way he saw it, there _was_ no problem - the girl was in Earthrealm, all that needed to be done was to take her home. Or, that's what Johnny thought until Raiden told him how that wasn't the case. Raiden explained the way she had gotten into the mess she was in.

Johnny almost couldn't believe it - almost. The Earthrealm warrior had been through a lot, so nothing could really shock him anymore. "So…while you're finding her way home, I have to deal with a potentially deadly ninja-specter, who probably wants to kill me making him flat out _deadly_ to me by the way, and protect her at the same time?"

Johnny still didn't understand all of it, but he knew what he was told to do and realized he'd probably eventually figure it all out as he traveled with the two. He was surprised to see Sub=Zero with them - especially alone with the girl. The stunned look he was portraying quickly left his face as Sub-Zero said his name.

Johnny laughed and, knowing how in-appropriate the line was, said it anyway. "Am I interrupting something?"

Sub-Zero ignored the question, but, Johnny noticed, the girl didn't. Her pale cheeks reddened slightly and her eyes darted from the ground to Sub-Zero. Johnny would have felt bad if he weren't so busy noticing certain…features the girl possessed. At first glance she was an average - possibly _below _average - teenaged girl; but when stared at, one noticed how shapely she was. The loose robe wrapped around her wasn't helping to hide anything either…

"Johnny," Sub-Zero said loudly, throwing the blonde back into reality. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, yeah," he started - Johnny realized how awkward his voice sounded and cleared his throat. "Raiden sent me to 'keep the girl company'." Sub-Zero seemed confused by the answer, but merely smiled.

"Who better to ask than you?" He had a light tone to his voice. Johnny smiled, also.

"Yeah; hey, speaking of why people are here, why are you here? Don't you have other things to do?"

Sub-Zero sighed. "I do, yes. I will be returning to the Lin Quei temple shortly. I've just been helping Raiden with this while I'm around."

Johnny noticed the girl looked up at Sub-Zero as he said that - she looked slightly sad. Of course, that pitiful - not in a bad way - look on her face hadn't left since Johnny first set his eyes on her. Shrugging it off for later use, the American warrior looked around to see if he could spot the dead - see if he could spot Scorpion.

"Where's Scorpion?" He asked as he pulled his shades up form his eyes to get a better look of the surrounding area. Sub-Zero sighed and crossed his arms.

"Throwing a tantrum for reasons unknown to me." As funny as the remark was, Johnny didn't laugh - a flash of light stopped any more conversation going on or any that were going to happen. Raiden's tall form appeared in view; after their vision returned, of course.

"It's a wonder we're not all blind by now." Johnny said as he gave one last hard blink. The color spots were going to drive him crazy for the next few minutes -

"I need to leave soon so I'll keep this short. The ninja from before were ordered to capture Erren and take her to their master."

"Who is their master?" Johnny asked. Raiden sighed and shook his head.

"That's what I'm about to find out." Before any more questions could be asked, the thunder god left. The two warriors were silent as the information was processed.

Erren didn't know if she liked Johnny Cage or not - the first thing he had said threw her off. She almost had passed out; the comment was off the wall crazy. She liked Sub-Zero more than when she had first met him, but not in _that _kind of way. Erren did however like Johnny Cage for the simple reason that he was in normal clothes - blue jeans and a button up blouse - and he seemed normal. Also, she admitted to herself, his sun-glasses were cool.

The teen realized it was silent and wished she would have been listening - instead, she was thinking of how it was going to be without Sub-Zero there and how cool Johnny's shades were. Was Johnny going to take Sub-Zero's place? Erren felt stupid for not paying attention. She'd almost missed Raiden's appearance because of her thoughts. She wanted to ask what was going on but didn't want to get yelled at for not knowing.

Erren looked at Sub-Zero and instantly noticed the worried look on his face - why was he worried? Raiden must have said something important.

"…I shouldn't leave when - " he started; so Sub-Zero _was _going to leave. Erren heard him say it earlier and was confused by his words. She didn't know much about him, but apparently he was someone important.

"Hey, we got this." Johnny interrupted Sub-Zero's talking and Erren's thoughts. The blonde looked down at Erren and winked. "Isn't that right, Erren?"

…Erren decided that she strangely liked Johnny Cage…

Scorpion had stopped walking and was standing in a small clearing. The old woman's words were still bothering him - what did she mean, 'gain something'? the crone had no idea what she was talking about and Scorpion made himself believe those very words. Having calmed down, the specter walked back to his odd 'companions'.

…Only to find a third. Scorpion automatically recognized the blonde man and felt his hand witch into a fist. Johnny Cage - the annoying optimistic fighter from Earthrealm. The man was a good fighter, but Scorpion couldn't let the past go…

"There's our boy wonder!" Johnny said jokingly. Scorpion narrowed his eyes and before he knew it, he had his spear heading toward Johnny's face. Johnny dodged with a back flip and after he stood back up and dusted himself off, gave Scorpion a mocking-warning look. "Now we both remember what happened last time you threw that thing at me."

Scorpion was extremely close to flat out killing Johnny Cage. The urge died, however, when Sub-Zero stepped in. The Lin Quei seemed worried over something.

"What's wrong with you?" Scorpion asked; an edge was still in the Shirai-Ryu's voice. Johnny Cage was too close for Scorpion's liking.

"I'm leaving - Johnny Cage is going to be traveling with you now." Scorpion didn't register the information completely until he heard it echo in his head…

"What..?"

End of Chapter Fifteen

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(That was a short chapter and I'm sorry about that. If there are any mistakes, I apologize for them. I'm far from perfect and I can't correct everything no matter how many times I re-read the chapter. XD …yeah. See you next chapter.)

Red.


	16. Plans

(I am sooo sorry for the wait. I've been 'busy'. But don't worry, I wrote a couple chapters so I'll be updating more!)

Thank you who reviewed.

I own nothing that does not belong to me.

* * *

Chapter Sixteen: Plans

The group went back to the village - Sub-Zero was getting ready to leave while the other three simply sat in the room two of them had been in earlier. There were mixed feelings about the headmaster's departure. Erren would miss him, simply because he wouldn't be there. Johnny wanted him to stay because he didn't want to be left alone with Scorpion and Scorpion just...didn't care.

The door opened and Sub-Zero walked in the room. Johnny sighed and stood from the chair he had been sitting in. "I can honestly say that I'm going to miss you when you're gone." Sub-Zero laughed, then sighed.

"I'd like to help you out but, I have things to do." Scorpion snorted and everyone in the room look at the ninja.

"Am I the _only_ one happy you're leaving?" As the words left Scorpion's mouth, Sub-Zero could only laugh. Scorpion huffily turned his head toward the wall - the _nerve_.

Sub-Zero turned and placed his hand on the door - he almost walked out when something caught his attention. It wasn't anything in the room or physical - something crossed his mind. He turned, looked at Erren and opened his mouth to say what he wanted to say, but stopped himself. The question that was nagging him was so...trivial. It didn't matter; it had no real relevance to anything...

...but as he continued to stare at the girl, the question formed into words. "How old are you?" Sub-Zero soon realized he had asked the question and could have smacked himself in the forehead. Usually he had more self control than that - why was it different _now_?

Erren's eyes widened as she slowly looked up at Sub-Zero. She cleared her throat before she quietly answered.

"Sixteen."

The room fell silent. Not one of the men in the room thought she was _that_ young - even though she had been called a child more than once by all three of them.

Sub-Zero cleared his throat awkwardly and shifted; besides that, though, the silence stayed. Erren simply stared at Sub-Zero wondering what was so strange about her age. She wasn't _that_ young; she'd be seventeen in the Fall. She wanted to ask 'why?' but decided not to. She didn't really care to know - it might be important information that he needed to know. Of course, how could anything about herself be of any real importance?

The teen's ignorance of the real reason everyone was quiet was noticed, and found thankful for.

Johnny Cage was the first one to speak, which startled everone else in the room. "Sixteen, huh? I remember that age." He paused and grinned. "Do you have a boyfriend?" Erren felt her face burn - what kind of question was that?

Sub-Zero sighed and turned toward the door. "I'm sorry I even asked - and I apologize for having to leave you with Johnny." He smiled and gave one last wave, shortly before walking out of the door.

Erren felt sad for a moment - she might never see Sub-Zero again. Sure, she didn't like him at first but that changed shortly after. Even so, there was nothing she could do about it. She would remember him and that was enough for her.

Scorpion wasn't thinking about anything - literally. He didn't feel like pondering over things that would eventually lead to stupid things. So, he stood in the corner, leaning on the wall, thinking of nothing. Suddenly, a hand was waving in his face. Scorpion instantly grabbed it and started to rip off whosever arm it was and attached to. Johnny's voice rang through the room.

"Whoa!" The blonde yanked his arm back and took a few steps away from the ninja specter. "Calm down; I was only getting your attention."

Scorpion growled as his eyes narrowed. "A, 'Hey Scorpion,' would suffice." The Shirai-Ryu watched as Johnny laughed and felt his anger grow.

"I did, twice." Scorpion sighed and walked away from the wall and to the center of the room.

"What do you want?"

Johnny rubbed his hand - making Scorpion's mood brighten slightly - and answered, "I wanted to ask what our next move was."

Scoprion had to think about that one - what _was_ next? After a few moments Scorpion decided to wait on Raiden. He would show up and say something and they could go and move on. "We'll wait on Raiden." Johnny nodded and pulled his hands to his sides.

"Yeah, maybe he'll have some information on those strange people who attacked you guys earlier." Scoprion looked at Johnny - what?

"You mean that wasn't random?" Scorpion had hoped - rather naively - that the attack was on the village and not the group. Johnny gave Scorpion a look that the ninja didn't look too much into.

"Apparently not - Raiden said there was someone behind the whole thing and that they're after Erren." Scorpion didn't noticed the frown that tugged Johnny's lips downward as the ninja sighed, clearly irritated. That was just what he needed - more trouble.

The three stayed quiet - two thinking about the trouble ahead, one thinking about something else _completly_.

"But seriously," started Johnny Cage, "do you have a boyfriend?" Erren felt her eyes widen and she looked at Johnny. Before she could respond however, Scorpion cut in.

"Shut the hell up. That has absolutely nothing to do with the situation at hand." Erren turned to Scorpion, still wide eyed.

"_Oh_," Johnny's voice was drenched in 'knowing'. "_I _see how it is; sorry I asked. It's not like I was - " This time Erren spoke.

"I-I'm sorry Mister Cage, but let's not go there...you're upsetting Scorpion." Erren didn't like it when Scorpion was mad - he usually said hateful things to her. But Johnny, and even Scorpion, didn't see it that way. Johnny gave Scorpion a suspicious glance - Scorpion sighed.

"It's not even like that, so you can give someone _else_ that look."

Johnny shrugged. "Uh-huh. That's what they _all_ say." A grin spread across the blonde's face, throwing Scorpion into a frustrated fit. Erren simply watched and laughed when Johnny made 'kissy' faces and barely dodged a fist to his face. Of course, she was oblivious as to why Johnny was making kissy faces...

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End of Chapter Sixteen

(Again, I'm sorry for the wait. Also, there are probably some spelling mistakes, and I'm sorry for that. I will try to have an update soon!)

Red


	17. Liquid

(A/N: Thank you who reviewed! I'm glad ya'll are actually enjoying this story. I hope I don't ruin it somehow. Heh, heh…)

I own nothing that I do not own.

* * *

Chapter Seventeen: Liquid

Scorpion hated –no, dispised –Johnny Cage. The man was completely…retarded. Just flat out childish. Scorpion however felt better after whacking him in the face a couple of times. The triumphant feeling left when the blonde refused to fight back so Scorpion stopped and took a seat in the corner.

"You know, I was only joking. To think someone who commits random acts of violence could ever be in a relationship is flat out halarious." Scorpion sent a hellish glare toward Johnny. "…Yeah, you need to work on our people skills, too."

Scorpion opened his moth to say something but stopped himself when a strange noise filled the room. The ninja looked around the room to find nothing that could make such a sound. He stood and began searching the room.

"What's up?" Johnny's smile had faded into a frown. Scorpion, who would have enjoyed the sight of Johnny's happy face melting into a worry, ignored him and continued to search the room. After coming up with nohitng, Scorpion growled and rubbed his ears. The noise as starting to agrivate him. It was high-pitched but barely audible.

"You don't hear that?" The ninja finally asked. Johnny shook his head and Scorpion didn't even look towards Erren –she would be no help. She never was.

"Does it sound like a dog whistle..?" Erren's soft voice rang through Scorpion's ears, making him slightly nervous—why he was nervous was behond his comperhension. He looked at the teen and nodded slowly. How could she hear it and Johnny couldn't? Maybe Johnny had gotten lazy—it wouldn't have surprised Scorpion at all.

Scorpion looked Erren over and instantly noticed something off about her clothes. The robe she had on had an odd crest on the collar of it. Scorpion hadn't noticed it before and was farily sure it hadn't been there the whole time . The ninja stepped up to Erren and grabbed her collar. He was right, it hadn't been there earlier.

Johnny's voice threw him out of his studying. "Whoa, chill out." The blonde grabbed Scorpion's shoulder as he tried to grab his attention. Scorpion didn't see the big deal—sure, the girl was shy around people close to her, but there was no need to get phsyical.

It was when Scorpion realized he was practically looking down her robe that he understood where the 'big deal' had presented itself. The Shiria-Ryu looked away from the girl's chest and focused in on her face instead. Big mistake.

Erren had started crying—or, was about to. She roughly jerked away from Scorpion and protectively wrapped the robe around her for. Her eyes were shiny and..Scorpion still couldn't tell what color they were. He only saw emotion and liquid. Pools threatening to pull him in and never letting him up for air.

Erren was saying something, but Scorpion couldn't hear her words. He was too busy staring into her eyes. What was with her eyes? They seemed normal enough, so why did Scorpion act strange everytime he peered into them? Well, besides the fact that he couldn't tell what color they were.

Suddenly, the noise exploded in Scorpion's eardrums and he was brought back to reality. The ninja noticed the small crest on the robe had lit up for a second and everything fell into place.

"It's a bomb," Scoripion said as he grabbed the collar and ripped it off, throwing it out of the window—

But not before it blew up.

Erren had no clue what was going on, all she knew was that she was confused, crying and something just blew up. She didn't know what Scorpion was doing when he had her collar, but she knew that her chest was exposed—she even got a little mad. For some resason though, she felt bad about that. Erren looked up to see half of the wall gone and smoke everywhere. She didn't see Scorpion or Johnny anywhere.

"Oh God," she thought as she looked around the room—or what was left of it. Erren then heard a sound below her and saw Scorpion. He was knelt at her feet with his back to her—even while sitting, his head went up to her upper waist….she felt so small…

"Is everyone alright?" Johnny's easy to hear voice rang through the room and Erren sighed. She felt better when he spoke. Erren looked down at Scorpoin's sitting form and realized he wasn't moving—and that there was weight on her bottom half. Scoprion had fallen onto her legs.

"Damn," Johnny spat; his voice not so calming now. The blonde knelt down in front of Scorpion and wrapped his arms around his neck and waist, pulling the ninja forward and off of Erren. Erren almost fell over when the weight was lifted.

"What happened..?" Erren asked numbly. She didn't know how to feel—scared, mad, or guilty. Why would she feel guilt? She didn't have to think about it long—she was weak. She was beyond pathetic. She had always been protected and sheltered. That's why she was so scared of everything. Now she felt worthless as she watched Johnny try to wake Scorpion up. What if he didn't wake up? What would that make her?

Something in Erren's mind snapped and she automatically bent down—well, fell down to her knees. She had to help, it was the least she could do…

…And then she saw how damaged Scorpion was. His clothes were burnt and even some of his skin was singed. There were a few cuts—actually, a lot of cuts were all over his face and bare skin where his clothes had been burned off. What was worse was the fact that he was out-cold. Erren froze and could only watch Johnny shake Scorpion awake—which he eventually did.

Erren was glad Scorpion had woken up, but she felt horrible. Why had she never noticed how sad she was? She just accepted it and never tried to fix it. Erren bit her bottom lip and she started to sob.

She just wanted to go home and never go outside again. She'd never change—so where were those thoughts coming from? Erren hadn't realized she had slammed her fisits onto the floor, cutting her hands on broken glass. She wanted home. She wanted her room. She wanted to be herself again. This new her was scary—she didn't do near as much comforting as the old Erren. She hand't changed that much, but enough to scare herself.

"Erren," a voice called to the teen. She didn't look up, but she knew it was Johnny Cage. "It's ok, honey…" A strong hand rubbed Erren's back gently and she lost it.

"I…can't take this..I want to go…home.." Erren's sobbing grew louder as she balled up completely. Fortunately, the gentle rubbing continued.

Scorpion watched, feeling hollow for reasons unknown—he didn't like the way the brat's crying slammed against his ears…

End of Chapter Seventeen

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(Alright, I hope that was longer than the last chapter, I can't be sure. If there are any spelling mistakes, I apologize. I will try to update regularly, but only if you want me to. XP)

Red


	18. Green

(You guys are awesome - thank you so much. I'm sorry this wasn't up sooner.)

I own nothing that does not belong to me.

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Chapter Eighteen: Green

Johnny was probably the most confused one out of them all - he had just shown up and a bomb had blown up half of the room. Well, he couldn't say that was the weirdest thing that had happened to him, but a bomb was a bomb. Luckily, the girl wasn't hurt. Johnny frowned as he looked Erren over; she may not have been hurt, but _something_ was wrong. She was sobbing into Johnny's sleeve, mumbling uncontrollably. The blonde had no idea why she was crying so hard, but it probably had something to do with the fact that she had almost been blown to pieces. Of course, it also could have had something to do with Scorpion being a jerk.

Johnny looked over at the ninja, who was trying to get up off of the floor. Scorpion had saved the girl's life - of course if he hadn't, Raiden would have had his head - but still, it was a tad bit weird. The dead warrior had always seemed to be the un-caring type; so to give him of all people the task at hand was somewhat…entertaining. Johnny wouldn't say it out loud, but he thought it was what the ninja needed - something to do that didn't involve killing anyone, (for the most part, anyway).

"She's not hurt is she?" Scorpion's voice sounded quiet for some reason. Johnny sighed as he peered back at the Shirai-Ryu.

"Not a scratch on her."

"Then _why _is she crying?"

Johnny's eyes narrowed. Scorpion probably, or surely should have, known better than anyone why she was crying - she'd had to stay with him for longer than any person should be forced to. Also, she was almost blown up to bits. Johnny might have been crying by then, too. He paused and frowned, he'd probably already kicked Scorpion's ass, actually…

"She probably wants to go home," Johnny paused and snorted. "Not to mention that she's been with you for the last twenty four hours - probably longer than that." Johnny half expected a remark or even an attack, but nothing came. He looked over at Scorpion and sighed when he had his back toward him. Typical Scorpion.

"When the dramatics are over, we'll head out." Scorpion said as he started for the door.

"Hey, I thought we were waiting on Raiden." Johnny felt anger burn in him as Scorpion swung open the door.

"We don't have time; they know where we are."

"Who are _they_?"

Scorpion turned with an angry look on his face - or was that his normal face? "Buddhist monks - who the hell do you think? The ninja that came for us earlier." Johnny decided that was Scorpion's angry face.

The ninja left the room and Johnny looked down at Erren, who had settled down slightly. What was he going to do with her? Sure, he was good with women, but not when it came to _crying_ women. Johnny, after a short pause for thought, came up with an idea.

"Hey kiddo," he said as gently and as deeply as he could as he lifted Erren's head up with his hand. Johnny's hand cupped her bottom jaw, which surprised the girl - her eyes had widened considerably. Johnny almost forgot what he was going to say; the girl's dark green eyes were so hypnotizing. It was like staring down off a plane into a canopy of some ancient rain forest. Johnny felt his eyes wondering downward to her lips - which were of _course_ red and swollen…How old was she again? She must have been lying because her body was well developed - she could pass off for a twenty year old woman.

_Calm yourself_, Johnny told himself as he put back on the charm. "You have the most amazing eyes. However, they're much prettier when you're _not_ crying." Johnny was lying - her eyes were beautiful either way, crying or not.

Johnny noticed something flicker in Erren's eyes and a smile slowly spread across her lips. The blonde noticed immediately that she knew what he was doing. Good, she knew he wasn't actually flirting with her…but if she was a little bit older…

Johnny felt arms wrap around his neck and he smiled. He was secretly enjoying the closeness of the young woman in his arms. Was he the only one who realized she was gorgeous? Sure, she was a little on the plain side, and she could easily fool anyone into not looking at her twice, but she was beautiful. Johnny laughed as he thought of Scorpion thinking she was anything but annoying. His laughter soon stopped however when he thought back to the ninja's odd behavior. _Was_ there something going on between him and the girl? He presumed his laughing - there was no way in hell Scorpion could ever -

"Johnny Cage," an all too familiar voice said heatedly. Johnny slowly turned to look up at the owner of the voice and his eyes grew larger.

"Sonya? What are you - "

"No," the blonde woman held up her hand to cut him off. "What are _you_ doing? She's only sixteen." Johnny was going to ask how she knew that when someone else stepped through the door beside Sonya. Johnny smiled as he nodded in greeting.

"Missed me too much, huh?" He asked as his grin intensified.

Sub-Zero nodded in return. "I was ordered to stay."

"Oh?" Johnny cocked an eyebrow. "By who?" Sub-Zero sighed as he crossed his arms.

"Raiden. He's almost found the enemy and the way to get Erren home - but he said that more protection was needed for the effort."

Sonya was looking down at Erren, who had removed herself from Johnny. "I was told to bring you some clothes - I'm glad I did." She threw Erren a bag, which the girl almost dropped.

"Thank you, um…"

"Sonya." The woman sounded almost cold toward the teenager. Johnny gave Sub-Zero a confused look.

"Where's Scorpion?" Sub-Zero asked, ignoring Johnny's questioning glance.

"I…don't know." The blonde man sighed and stood, dusting himself off. "He stomped off somewhere, _again_."

"What happened to the wall?" Sonya walked to the half gone wall and touched a burnt piece of furniture. "A bomb?"

"Yeah," Johnny answered. "It was actually _on_ Erren - but Scorpion luckily found it before it went off and threw it."

"Into the wall?" Sonya sounded doubtful. Johnny sighed as he felt his eyebrows bunch together - Sonya was so…ugh. He had almost forgotten how hard it was to appease her. Which, he admitted to himself, wasn't all that bad. She was fun to tease.

"There _was_ a wall there." He left Sonya with those words as he turned to Sub-Zero. Johnny didn't feel like teasing the hard woman at that moment; he had a question. "How did she know how old Erren was?" Sub-Zero sighed.

"She told me to tell her _everything_." Johnny laughed at the thought of Sonya interrogating Sub-Zero. The Lin Quei warrior gave Johnny a strange look; the look turning even stranger as he spoke.

"What _were_ you doing when we walked in?"

End of Chapter Eighteen

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(I know that was super short…I'm sooo sorry. Sub-Zero's back, though. Hee hee. You knew I couldn't keep him out for too long. He's my favorite! Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as much as the others. Sorry for any typos.)

Red


	19. Switch

(I thank you all for your support! It's great, really. I do have something that I'm berating myself over, however. Every time I read a story with an OC, I notice that they are always beautiful. Well, I've made Erren fit the part, huh? Gah, I hate that! Well, I see her as being cute, _not _beautiful. For some reason, that makes me feel better. XD)

I do not own anything that is not mine.

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Chapter Nineteen: Switch

Erren did _not_ like the clothes Sonya had brought her. They were very…form fitting. Erren had always worn cute clothes in her opinion, but they weren't tight. Just because you didn't show much of anything didn't mean that you couldn't dress cute.

The clothing consisted of a pair of sweat pants - which weren't the problem - and a white tank top, which _was_ the problem. Luckily, the woman known as Sonya had also brought some under-garments for Erren to wear.

The teen awkwardly stepped out into the open air, pulling at her shirt. She looked around the area to find her odd traveling companions standing underneath a small group of trees. She slowly made her way toward them, hoping no one noticed her clothes…

"That's a lot better than a robe, huh?" Johnny said with a smile. Erren simply nodded and continued to pull at her shirt, hoping to make it larger somehow. Apparently Johnny noticed and laughed.

Before he could say anything, however, Sonya cut in. "Has Raiden told you anything else about our target's location?" Sub-Zero shook his head.

"No, but he said he'd get back to me as soon as possible." Sonya nodded and sighed.

"What do we do in the meantime? Sit here and wait?" Johnny made himself comfortable by leaning against a tree, which didn't go un-noticed by Sonya, who frowned. "I completely forgot how annoying you are." Johnny cocked an eyebrow behind his sunglasses and his mouth gaped open.

"What did I do, exactly?"

Sonya was about to explain the numerous reasons on how Johnny Cage was annoying, but stopped as soon as she saw Scorpion walking toward the group. She gave Johnny a menacing glare before directing it toward the Shirai-Ryu.

"Where have you been?" The blonde woman asked as she crossed her arms. Scorpion gave her a side long glance as he passed her, but didn't say anything. The action, (or lack thereof) apparently infuriated Sonya. She grabbed the dead warrior's arm and forced him backwards to face her. "_Answer _me."

_That_, apparently, infuriated Scorpion. The ninja removed his arm out of the woman's vice like grip with a quick flick of his arm. Shortly after being released, Scorpion tried breaking Sonya's ribs with a forceful kick to her side. Sonya, however, grabbed the specter's leg and threw him off balance. Scorpion was helped to the ground by Sonya pinning herself on top of him.

Scorpion felt his breath catch in his throat - the woman had landed on top of his chest, which, had actually taken most of the blast damage for some unknown reason. The force of the explosion had blown against his chest full force, probably bruising a few ribs. He suppressed a groan of pain as Sonya pressed a hand potently against his aching chest.

"First off," she started as she secured her position on top of Scorpion's struggling form. "From this point on, we are to act as a team. As such, we will be telling each other where we are, or where we're going." She paused as she shoved Scorpion to the ground as he tried to sit up. "Secondly, if you even try to do anything funny, I'll personally kill you myself." Sonya stood and backed away from Scorpion, who was shaking with anger - or what everyone thought was anger. Scorpion was actually trying not to show that he was in pain. Sonya might have actually _broken_ a rib or two.

"Who the hell do you think you are, telling _me _what to do?" Scorpion bellowed. Regardless of how weak he was from his injuries, he would damn sure put the cocky woman before him in her place. Sonya prepared herself for an attack as Scorpion seemed to ready himself for one as well.

Erren felt worry settle in her chest as the two continued arguing. She hated any kind of conflict and couldn't help but feel the need to stop the un-necessary violence to come. Her feet wouldn't move, however as she tried so hard to move. What could she do, anyway? Get hurt? More than likely she would get in the way and be injured. Just what everyone needed; Erren being injured again. She bit her bottom lip and decided to stay back and let someone else handle it. Surely they would. She looked up at Johnny Cage, who had stood from his leaning position and looked ready to stop them at any moment. Erren then looked at Sub-Zero, who had his arms crossed. The disapproving look on his face saying that he had no business in the meaningless squabble.

Johnny Cage would stop it, surely, Erren thought as she continued watching. After the first punch was thrown, however, and no one stopped it, Erren felt her heart drop. She looked at Johnny and felt her mouth gape open. He was laughing about it with Sub-Zero. Of course, Sub-Zero wasn't laughing, he was shaking his head.

Erren couldn't stop herself from moving, however. Her body moved before her mind could stop it. The next thing she knew, she was standing behind Scorpion - who had just happened to be closer - and as forcefully as she could grabbed his shoulder. The ninja turned instantly to face Erren and the teen felt her face heat up. Great, now she didn't know what to say. She was sure Scorpion would give her a good tongue lashing…

…but when he didn't say anything, she almost felt worried. She slowly looked up at his neck, then even slower, to his face. Well, his chin, but she considered that his face, which was good enough. Erren took a deep breath, then spoke.

"Please don't," was all she said. She then felt stupid for saying anything. Why was she so stupid? Everyone around her probably thought she was mentally retarded…

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Erren realized she was squeezing Scorpion's shoulder rather tightly and let go, pulling her hand to her side. The teen then stepped back and decided to actually look in Scorpion's face and explain herself - maybe then she wouldn't be seen as a retard.

"I'm sorry, but if we're a team, then I don't think we should be…fighting each other." Erren looked up into Scorpion's eyes and hoped he wouldn't get angry.

Everyone was silent, again, which made Erren nervous. She cleared her throat and stepped back, waiting on Scorpion to say something. She stopped looking at his face, an easier substitute, while waiting for a response.

Scorpion couldn't stop looking at the odd little creature before him. She was so…exasperating, yet at the same time he couldn't stop looking at her. There was nothing special about her. She was just a brat who knew nothing about anything. Of course, he had been over that over and over in his head, every time re-realizing how annoying she truly was. He hated the way he felt towards her. How weak she made him feel. She literally drained him every time she looked at him in the face. What was wrong with him? Maybe it was his injuries affecting him…

But the _way _she had said _please_ had sent something strange through him. Even the simple notion of grabbing his shoulder sent a wave of dizziness through his being. It was enough to drive anyone crazy, dead or alive.

Scorpion sighed and glared at Sonya, which he had to turn his head to do. "Seems like you got lucky."

Sonya snorted. "Keep thinking that." Before the two could start again, Sub-Zero stepped in.

"Let's not start again," he paused and turned toward Erren. "You didn't have to do that. I was going to stop them with one of my attacks." He paused when Erren seemed embarrassed by the fact. "But thank you."

Johnny laughed and grinned at Erren. "You showed him, huh? Stopped him dead in his tracks." Scorpion growled, which Johnny happily ignored. "That was great."

"So we are waiting for Raiden?" Sonya interrupted. After a short pause, Sub-Zero answered.

"Yes. He should be here shortly." He cleared his throat and shifted his weight. "Surely."

After an hour of waiting, the group had settled down into sitting positions. Actually, everyone else had made themselves comfortable while Scorpion was leaning against a tree, trying to keep himself from thinking too much about his throbbing torso. He glanced down at Erren, who had noticed kept giving him strange glances.

"What are you looking at?" Scorpion finally asked. Erren flinched and instantly turned her gaze to the ground below her. Of _course_ she would do something like that. She always did.

"I…was just wondering if…you were alright." The answer confused him. What the hell?

"Why wouldn't I be?" His voice came out a lot colder than he intended, which, the more he thought about it, the more he liked it that way.

The girl shifted uncomfortably. "The explosion..you were injured." Scorpion snorted and crossed his arms over his chest - even though it hurt him to do so. Again, he repressed the urge to groan in pain.

"You worry too much, you know that?" Scorpion began to settle back into the comfortable silence when the kid caught him by surprise.

She just _had_ to say something, however. "Are you sure you're alright..? You…just flinched when you crossed your arms, like it hurt.." Scorpion sighed and glared down at the girl.

"I am fine," Scorpion said a calmly as he could, which was no easy feat. Thinking the conversation was over, he closed his eyes, hoping to get some peace for a little while longer before Raiden returned with sure news of a fight.

Of course, no one had to bother him because his sides were about to cause him to double over in pain. Surely they weren't _that_ badly damaged from the blast. Scorpion couldn't even move his upper body without feeling his ribs cry out in protest. So, he decided to stand completely still, practicing his meditation skills. It was actually a lot easier than he remembered it being and he easily sank into a light sort of sleep standing against the tree behind him.

So when Raiden appeared with a loud, thunder like noise and a bright flash of light, Scorpion was literally jerked awake by it. He couldn't help but gasp at the sharp pain that wracked his body for a good minute or so. He weakly held his sides as he slowly lifted his head, noticing with anger that everyone was staring at him. Scorpion growled as he forced himself to stand straight, moving his arms to his sides.

"Are you injured?" Raiden asked as he looked the Shirai-Ryu over. He didn't seemed too worried however as he continued. "What happened?"

Scorpion frowned and looked over at Erren. "Somehow, one of those ninja had implanted a bomb in her clothes. I found out just in time to throw it off.."

"And then it went off." Johnny finished. He stood and dusted himself off. "Scorpion took a pretty direct blow, now that I think about it." Raiden continued to stare at the gold and black clad ninja before turning toward Erren.

"Are you alright?" The girl nodded and looked over at Scorpion, worry evident on her face. Scorpion cursed to himself. Great. Now they would waste more time.

Raiden followed the girl's gaze and after staring at Scorpion a little while longer, sighed. "How bad is it?"

"Not as bad as you think it is." Actually, Scorpion thought that it could possibly be worse. The pain hadn't subsided like it had the time before. He had even stopped moving completely, save from speaking, and it still was unbearable. He was surprised that he had actually sounded so calm in his response. He probably wouldn't be so lucky the next time…

"We should take a look at it," Sub-Zero said as he stepped forward. Scorpion gave the man the meanest look he could muster at that moment. There was no way in hell.

"Leave me…be." Scorpion could feel blood rising up his throat - he had almost choked on it. He quickly cleared his throat, trying to keep his cool so that they could get back to business. They were wasting time. As soon as Scorpion tried to tell them that, however, he began coughing violently. Crimson streaks leaked through his mask and fell through his fingers as he tried desperately to stop the fit. His other arm had automatically wrapped itself around his middle, somehow thinking that would help with the sharp pains stabbing his insides.

Before Scorpion could regain his composure, Raiden had him by the shoulders, gently sitting him down on the ground. Scorpion was all of a sudden feeling weak, which only made the pain that much worse. He had to force himself to breathe - it hurt to even do that. It was as if his injury was only growing more severe with every passing moment.

Scorpion half-heartedly pushed Raiden away, trying to gain whatever strength he had left. Why was he feeling so weak? "…What..is this?" He managed to ask as he forced himself to sit up. There was no way a few broken ribs could cause that much pain. There had to be something else.

Raiden turned toward the rest of the group, looking slightly worried. "Go back to the place where the bomb went off. Look for anything peculiar." Johnny and Sub-Zero nodded and headed back toward the village, while Sonya and Erren stayed with Raiden.

"Where does it hurt?" Raiden asked. He waited until Scorpion replied with a shaky hand. He patted his side - Scorpion would have replied with a smart ass remark but didn't have the strength to do it. The thunder god removed the ninja's hand and placed his own on the spot, jabbing it slightly. Scorpion wanted to cuss but instead shrunk away from Raiden's painful fingers. He might have even made some sort of noise but he couldn't tell. He hoped he didn't whimper. Of course, it did hurt beyond anything he had felt in a while.

Raiden then began pushing the Shirai-Ryu backwards to lay down. Scorpion could only do as he was forced to and soon found himself lying on the ground. The position only made it worse, which, was soon voiced by a muted whine. The thunder god removed Scorpion's top with as much care as he could muster. The frown on his face instantly deepened as he stared at the bare skin. Around the chest and side areas were deep, purple bruises. Raiden had a feeling what Johnny and Sub-Zero would come back with.

When the two returned, he was correct. They had found several small - _very _small_ - _needles imbedded in random places in the room. Raiden took one of the needles they had returned with and examined it carefully. It was pure poison, hardened and constructed into a needle like form. Raiden destroyed it accordingly and glanced back at Scorpion.

"It all falls into place, then." Raiden's words confused everyone, of course, so he elaborated. "The ninja who appeared earlier are trying to kill or capture Erren so they can hold her for ransom or just cause trouble for the realms." He paused and sighed. "They are a relatively new clan, so I don't know that much about them. I do know they specialize in poisons, however and I do know their location."

Sonya finally spoke, but not before nodding. "That's good to know." She glanced back at Scorpion. "What do we do now?"

Raiden thought for a moment. After coming up with something, he looked over at Erren, who was looking scared out of her mind. "Erren, I'm sorry to ask you of this, but I need you to stay here with Scorpion." The girl was clearly surprised, but agreed none-the-less. She had a feeling she couldn't disagree, anyway.

Johnny gave Raiden a skeptical look. "What? We're going to leave her alone with him? What if they get attacked?" Raiden sighed as he looked at Johnny Cage.

"We'll be attacking their base, I don't think they would send anyone out." He paused and gave Erren a reassuring nod. "I need you to keep him awake, understand? If he falls asleep, he won't wake up."

Erren felt her throat tighten up. She was so nervous that she didn't even hear the rest of the conversation. Raiden, Sonya, Sub-Zero, and Johnny left shortly after. Erren nervously glanced at Scorpion, noticing how labored his breathing sounded. She walked over to his side and sat down beside him. She didn't know what to do, he looked so…tired. Erren almost cried at the sight of the ugly bruises on his middle, but suppressed it as she bit her bottom lip.

She was _going _to do her best, because regardless of how badly he treated her, he had saved her life more than once. The least she could do was try to save his…

…if she didn't somehow screw it up…

End of Chapter Nineteen

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(Woo that was a long chapter. I bet none of ya'll were expecting that, huh? Ha ha. I hope you all enjoyed it and are wanting to read the next update.)

Red


	20. Green Revisited

(Thank you guys for reviewing! I hope you're all still enjoying this story.)

I do not own anything that does not belong to me.

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Chapter Twenty: Green (Revisited)

Erren didn't know what to do at first, so she sat there and watched Scorpion breathe. He looked strange with his shirt off and his mask on. She almost shivered at the thought of his mask off however and was glad it was still on. The teen didn't take particular interest in seeing a flaming skull in such a close proximity. She wondered absently why his face looked normal when he had it on - why was it like that? It didn't make much sense.

Before getting too deep into that particular train of thought though, Scorpion sat up, throwing all thoughts out of Erren's head. The teen sat up straighter, waiting for a chance to help. The ninja turned his head toward the girl and simply looked at her. Erren felt extremely worried at that point. What was he doing, staring at her like that?

"D-do you need something? What is it? I can help if you - "

Scorpion shook his head and looked at the ground. "Where did..everyone else go..?" Erren was surprised he hadn't heard the group leave. She swallowed hard and began staring at her hands in her lap.

"They…left to fight those ninja." Erren had a feeling Scorpion would be mad at the fact. He probably wanted to fight, too. Not for her; Erren just had the feeling he wanted to fight period.

Which, her hunch was correct. Scorpion's eyes narrowed as he growled lowly. Erren bit her bottom lip as she allowed herself to glance up at his face. He was furious - he even had his fists clenched so hard she heard his knuckles crack.

"And..here I am, with you…" He spat out harshly. Erren would have been offended if he didn't sound so…pitiful. Erren didn't know what to do. What if he tried to get up? What would she do then? Could she persuade him to sit back down or would she have to actually sit him down? She didn't think she could do the latter - she would probably end up making him mad, or she wouldn't be able to budge him.

Erren heard a noise and saw Scorpion was actually standing. She felt her breath stop. Now she had to stop him. How she was going to do that she hadn't figured out yet, but she had to try. Erren stood, causing Scorpion to look in her direction. She then felt even more nervous - she didn't know what to do.

"I can't believe," he started, his voice shaking with rage, "that they would…" Scorpion stopped and Erren instantly went on alert. The specter's eyes widened momentarily before he began falling forward. Erren didn't even feel herself move as she lunged forward…

The next thing Erren knew, she was lying directly under Scorpion. She found it hard to breathe with all of his weight on her chest. She then felt pain in her back - she must have landed on a rock or something. All she knew was that she was very uncomfortable the position she found herself in. Erren moved her head so she could stare directly upwards only to find Scorpion's face. Also, she felt how warm his body was - Erren almost lost it.

"Calm down," she thought to herself. She could get out from under him, no problem. He was still conscious, so all he would have to do is move. Erren took as deep a breath as she could before speaking. "Scorpion," she said relatively calmly, surprising herself. After a moment, she continued.

"A-are you alright?" She frowned after the words left her mouth. That was not what she wanted to say. She wanted to ask if he could get off of her. But no. She just had to say something stupid, as usual. Where did that even come from? She must have been thinking about it sub-consciously. She did worry a lot…

Scorpion inhaled sharply and began breathing rapidly - his body becoming completely limp. Erren froze. Did he pass out? His groan somehow answered with a no and Erren found herself thankful. After a few more moments of hearing the awful sound of Scorpion breathing - no, gasping - he finally said something.

"..I..can't move…" Erren thought she would never hear Scorpion sound so exhausted. She almost started crying. Was he really dying? She didn't understand the part about him being dead already, but if he could get hurt, he could die. She felt her breathing pick up and tried her best to control her watering eyes. It was all her fault. He wouldn't be hurt if it wasn't for her. No one would be having to go through all of that trouble if she hadn't of so clumsy. Erren clenched her teeth together and heard a sob escape her throat. Great. Now she was sobbing. She felt so _stupid_.

Then the blubbering started. "I-I'm s-sorry…please…don't…don't die.." Erren didn't even hear half of what she was saying, all she knew was that she was feeling incredibly horrid. She couldn't even look at Scorpion anymore. He was probably glaring at her, if he could even do that, wishing she would just shut up. But she couldn't stop herself and continued.

"I-if I wouldn't…wouldn't have been so pathetic..so _weak_, you wouldn't be.." Erren couldn't even finish her already stuttering mess of a sentence - she was crying too hard. She didn't want Scorpion to die. The more she thought about it, the worse she felt. She must have looked like such an idiot. Erren didn't dare look up at Scorpion's face. He probably was disgusted. Who wouldn't be?

So when she felt fingers gently wipe away the tears from one side of her face, she was completely shocked. Erren instantly stopped sobbing and lifted her eyes - was she really feeling what she thought she was? Was Scorpion doing what she thought he was?

"…would you shut the hell up..?" Scorpion's soft voice surprised Erren to the point of flinching. She continued to stare at his face, not caring what he thought of her at that moment - what was he doing? It was so…unlike him. The teen felt her body tense as Scorpion removed his hand from her face and tried to move off of her. He only succeeded in moving a few inches above her, then falling back down. Not only did the action cause harm to himself, but Erren heard herself yelp from the weight of his body slamming into her.

Erren felt his chest heave again - along with an anguish filled noise - and she instantly felt worried. What could she do? She couldn't move from under him, she wasn't strong enough. He needed to be lying on his back - his chest and sides must have been killing him in the position he was in. Erren took a deep breath before moving her arms above her head and out of the way.

"Can you roll over?" She asked quietly. Scorpion didn't answer for a good minute. Erren repeated the question a little louder.

"I…heard you the first time," Scorpion said through clenched teeth. Erren shut her mouth and felt slightly embarrassed but didn't let it bother her for too long.

"Do you think you can, though? I mean…" She glanced down toward his middle and bit her lip. She must have been hurting him, the look on his face told it all. Erren felt so useless - surely it was a mistake leaving her with someone so severely injured…

Scorpion had never felt so horrible in all of his…afterlife. The pain only grew and grew with every moment and nothing he did could help it. He must have been so out of it that he was acting strange - he couldn't believe he had actually stroked the girl's cheek like he had. It unsettled him, to say the least. But the look on her face - the sound of her crying…it was too much. Scorpion was cursing himself for being so weak - he couldn't even move off of the girl below him and there he was comforting her.

The form of her body was digging into his sensitive middle. Some part of him, however, liked the feeling of how close they were. He shut that part of himself down quickly after it somehow possessed him to wipe away her tears. Now he was trying to get on his back; he was afraid of what he might have done next if he continued to lay on top of the girl any longer…

He tried moving again, but found the excruciating pain difficult to deal with and fell back down. Before the pain intensified he heard the girl yelp - he had hurt her? Where was she hurt? Was it serious? Scorpion then choked out some sort of noise as the full force of his body hitting hers' registered in his mind. Why should he care if she was hurt or not? She then asked about rolling over - Scorpion didn't answer, he was too busy trying not to cry, honestly. The pain was eating away at his mental state of mind and he was losing it. Once he got off of the girl, he was going to ball up and wait for the pain to leave. Hah, like that would happen…

She repeated the question and Scorpion answered with something. He didn't remember what, exactly. The girl then asked if he could actually roll over and trailed off. Scorpion would have told her - if he were capable of proper speech at that moment - that he was going to attempt it after the pain settled slightly. When it didn't, he decided to try it anyway. He was getting angry at how every time he moved it only got worse.

So, Scorpion rolled over - or, tried to. He didn't actually manage rolling over completely. The ninja cursed under his breath as he found he couldn't move any further. Great, now he was -

And then the girl placed her hand on his side and started to push him. Scorpion couldn't tell if it was gentle or not - anything that touched his sides at that moment felt like a hammer being swung into them. He landed on his back, but he was too busy screaming to notice. After getting that out, he decided to examine his middle - how the hell could a couple of broken ribs cause so much…

The thoughts left his mind when he saw his purple and black colored sides. His chest was even discolored. What was going on? Scorpion stared wide eyed at himself until he finally wrapped his arms around himself. It didn't help in the least bit, but it made him feel better.

The girl had gotten up and was sitting beside him. Scorpion looked at her, not knowing what to think. He couldn't think, actually. He only knew that he wasn't going to make it if the pain continued any longer.

Then, seemingly out of no where, the girl placed her gentle, cool hands on his shoulders. What was she doing? It was somewhat comforting - it felt good to his feverish skin. Scorpion noticed it took his mind off the pain for a moment and turned his head around to face her. She seemed to notice the comfort it gave him and she smiled weakly.

"..what.." He started, but stopped when she slid her hands down his arms, almost touching his hands. She had no idea how she made him feel - weak, tired, dizzy - when she touched him. It was ridiculous. But as far as Scorpion was concerned, he wasn't to blame - it was not his fault that he reacted that way around her. If anything it was her fault, not his. Scorpion felt his body relax as she continued to slide her small hands across his bare skin.

She moved her hands back over his arms, then his shoulders again - she then moved them to the back of his neck. Scorpion held his breath; upon releasing it, he whispered one single word,

"Erren."

The girl automatically stopped what she was doing and removed her hands. Scorpion found himself quite surprised by what he had said - actually, it was the _way_ he had said it. It sounded so _needy_. The Shirai-Ryu ninja was frozen in place as the silence lingered. What was he doing? What was he thinking? What was wrong? He turned completely around, regardless of the pain in his sides, and stared at the girl, hoping to find an answer in her.

Then it hit him. Like a giant rock landing on top of him, he understood. Why he felt the way he did when she touched him, when she said his name…when she looked him in the eyes. It all came together; but it made no sense. There was no reason he would actually…truly…

…_love_ her. It was absurd. He had no need for someone else in his life at the moment. Further more, he barely knew her - how could someone fall in love with someone they barely knew? Scorpion could only stare at the girl in front of him as he tried desperately to find an answer to his many questions. Scorpion had never felt so…helpless. The last time he had felt so confused was when he met his wife - that had seemed like ages ago; which it was. That was a different time with different circumstances. He was losing it. He had finally snapped. There was no way he would actually have feelings for such a weird little creature…

…but no matter how many times he told himself that, he couldn't help but notice how beautiful her dark green eyes were.

Erren found herself not liking the way Scorpion was staring at her so openly. He seemed transfixed on her eyes for some reason. He seemed like a completely different person. Erren decided to break the silence with an apology - he was probably really mad about the whole touching him thing.

_Then why did he say your name like that?_ Erren frowned at the tiny voice in her head - it was right. If he was actually mad about it, he would have jerked away and cussed at her or something. But he didn't. He was honestly scaring her - he had never truly looked at her the way he was at that moment before.

"Um, I'm sorry for…touching you like that. I know you must've not…wanted me to." Erren apologized anyway. He was probably _mad_ anyway. Scorpion was hard to read most of the time, it wasn't the first time Erren got something wrong…

…and then, before she knew it, he had her shoulders, pulling her closer. Erren's eyes widened in shock; what was he doing? She felt her heart race and her breath catch in her throat.

"S-stop," Erren muttered as she stared directly into his dark eyes. They were…brown. They didn't have the freaky white film covering them like usual. Erren thought about backing away, but felt so weak she couldn't even move. Surely he wasn't planning on…

He then placed a hand on his mask. Erren froze. He wouldn't - she couldn't handle it. She would faint at the sight of the flaming skull. She whispered something in protest, but couldn't tell what it was. She watched his hand intently as he un latched only the bottom half of his mask, revealing a normal pair of lips. Erren froze in horror again. He wasn't thinking of _that_, was he? Why would he? He hated her. There was no way he would do something so strange and especially with her. There was no way -

Erren felt one of Scorpion's hands move up to the back of her head, pulling her closer to his face.

He _was_ going to kiss her, and there was nothing she could do about it.

End of Chapter Twenty

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(O.o Yeah, yeah, yeah I know…you're all thinking I'm moving too fast, but rest assured, I am not! You'll see why in the next chapter. And also, there will be a sequel to this story - again, you will see why in the next chapter. Hopefully. If not, then the chapter after the next one. I can't decide if I wanna end it in the next chapter or one after that. I dunno, we'll see.)

Red


	21. Repeat

(Thank you guys so much for your support. In the last chapter, there might have been a couple of confusing things, if you think there were, leave me a review or comment - preferably a comment - and I'll do my best to explain myself. Again, thank you so much.)

I don't own anything.

* * *

Chapter Twenty One: Repeat

Erren felt the strong hand behind her head, gently pushing her forward; she felt an equally strong arm wrap around her waist, pulling her entire _body _forward; the main thing she felt, however, was the stare she was receiving from the owner of said body parts. Everything was a blur, _except_ those eyes.

Believe it or not, Erren had been kissed before - she didn't like it, but she had experienced it. She didn't like it because it wasn't the right person. It had been her best friend, Ryan. He was a really nice guy, and an awesome friend. But that was what it was, friendship. He had brought her out by the benches behind the cafeteria and sat her down, talked to her about how he felt, and kissed her. Erren was shocked, honestly, but not enough to the point of not stopping before he got the wrong idea.

It had been her first kiss, but it wasn't exactly…a nice memory. It was like kissing her brother, even though she didn't have a brother. She and Ryan had been friends since pre-school, so him kissing her felt so wrong. Ryan still liked her, however. She could tell by the way he talked to her and looked at her. It didn't bother her anymore - she felt horrible, but he just wasn't someone she felt romance toward.

This time, however, was a totally different situation. This time, someone way older than her - she didn't exactly know how old Scorpion was, she just knew that he was too old for her - was the one doing the kissing. Or, well, was _about _to. Erren felt so confused; why would Scorpion _kiss_ her? Scorpion had never shown anything toward her but disgust. He constantly sent her mean looks, insults, or he just flat out ignored her. There was just no logic to the whole thing.

Erren was worried beyond anything else, even confusion. Maybe Scorpion was feeling delusional, if that was the case, what could she do about it? She felt so weak she couldn't move to stop him.

Erren felt the hand behind her head move to her chin, holding it lightly. She realized she was mere inches away from Scorpion's face, she could see how clear his eyes were. _Those do not look the eyes of someone delusional…_ Erren thought as she stopped breathing. What was he doing?

"Don't do this.." Erren was surprised at her own voice, even if it was a whisper. How she had managed a sentence, she had no clue. How she had said it without stuttering? An even bigger mystery. How she sounded so calm and collective? Baffling.

Scorpion's eyes widened in what seemed like realization and he backed away, letting go of her chin. Erren started breathing again. Good, he had come to his senses. He would only regret kissing her - she was so weak and pathetic. How could he possibly be attracted to her enough to try and kiss her? It was flat out strange.

Erren realized she was actually out of breath - probably because of the fact that she had been holding her breath - and tried putting more distance between them. When she found that she couldn't move, she looked down at her waist. Scorpion's arm was still around it, rather tightly she noticed.

"Scorpion," she started, again in that strangely quiet yet strong whisper. She then placed her hand on his fore-arm, making sure he knew it was there by giving it a light squeeze. "You need to be lying down…"

The ninja seemed so…out of character. Erren had never seen him so confused. His eyes were shifting back and forth between her eyes and her hand on his arm. He finally removed his hand and leaned back, giving Erren the much wanted space. She sighed quietly. Now that _that_ was over with, she could get back to what she was supposed to be doing.

The teen absently ran a hand through her shaggy hair and decided to look Scorpion over. His ribs…his _middle_ looked dreadfully sick. Black, splotchy areas covered the area of skin - it didn't even look like bruising anymore. It looked like some sort of disease. Erren thought back on what Raiden had said…something about ninjas specializing in…

Poisons. Erren paled. Why did that bother her so badly? She looked at Scorpion, who still seemed slightly dazed by what had just happened. He had put the bottom half of his mask back on, and was staring at the ground, his arms still holding him up behind his back. Erren frowned. If it was poison, he didn't need to be moving around - poison spread quickly. She had learned that in science class when they were on the subject. He hadn't moved _that_ much, but who knew if it was still _too_ much?

Erren stood, looking around the area. It was about noon, so the sun would be at it's highest. She needed to move Scorpion underneath some shade - which was close by, only about ten feet. She didn't know how they ended up away from the trees - Scorpion had been leaning against one of them earlier. How did they end up so far away?

The teen heard a noise and instantly looked at Scorpion. He was standing, holding his sides. Why was he standing? Erren literally felt the color leave her face. "W-wait," she didn't sound as demanding as before, but the message was clear enough, she thought. Scorpion gave her a puzzled look - actually, it was mostly pain filled, but the puzzlement was clear.

"Let me help," she said as she started toward Scorpion. She would try to keep him from moving as much as she possibly could. Erren stopped when she was standing right beside him. She looked up at his taller form and smiled weakly - why? She didn't know. After getting over the thought of how stupid she probably looked, Erren started thinking on how she could actually help Scorpion.

The sixteen year old gently pulled one of Scorpion's arms over her shoulder - after unwrapping it from his middle, that is. Erren held his arm with one arm and wrapped her other arm around his waist. His arm was heavy on her shoulder - it felt so limp. She noticed how shallow and quick his breaths were and bit her bottom lip. It must have been so hard to stand, even with help.

The two took a few awkward steps, then stopped. Erren felt worry explode inside her and she shot her head up to see Scorpion's face. He had his eyes shut tightly, and he had stopped breathing. The arm she had around his waist instantly wrapped itself tighter around his middle.

"H-hey, we're almost - "

"I'm…about to fall over.." Scorpion said as he began to remove his arm from Erren's shoulder. Erren grabbed it and held on tightly.

"This may be a lot to ask, but..don't try to, ok? Not until we get underneath those trees." Erren moved her arm back around his waist and nudged him forward. "Please.."

Scorpion took a deep breath, but didn't say anything. The two began moving again, making it to the shade of the trees without wasting much time. Erren grinned as she caught her breath. She was glad he didn't fall over - she didn't know _how_ she would get him back up.

"I'm gonna try and set you down now," she said as she began lowering herself to the ground. Erren could see how hard Scorpion was trying to hold himself up, but just couldn't do it. He gasped as he fell on his rear. Erren found herself on hers as well. He had dragged her down with him as he fell. She started to laugh but stopped when she felt Scorpion's arm around her shoulder tense.

"Scorpion..?" She said quietly as she gently squeezed his waist. She didn't even realize she was doing that, it just felt like the right thing to do. "Oh my God, what's wrong?"

Scorpion found himself in a world of pain after he had fallen down - the jolt that his body received felt like a nice hard slap to his already beaten ribs. His legs gave out - he was so weak. He could barely hold his aching side with his one free hand. The Shirai-Ryu couldn't even remove his other arm from Erren's shoulder. Finally, he allowed his limbs to fall limp.

He looked down at the girl beside him, she seemed so worried. Scorpion couldn't help but chuckle - it was almost flattering. As he continued staring at the girl, he couldn't help but notice her eyes again. They made him feel even _weaker_. Why was he such an idiot? He had tried to kiss her, only to fail. Miserably. The more he thought about it, the more he was glad that he hadn't done it. Well, he had every intention of kissing her - he hadn't expected her to _stop_ him. She was stronger than he gave her credit for. She had more control than he did, and he was more than ten years her senior.

Why had he done it? He didn't even know what he was thinking - some nonsense about romance or something stupid like that. He didn't need anything like that…especially with someone so pathetic. Scorpion felt something squeeze against his waist. He looked down to see Erren's small arm wrapped around his middle and almost laughed. He took it back, s_he_ wasn't the pathetic one…

The girl had remarkably changed Scorpion's mind about her. She was strong when she needed to be, the way she handled him in his weakened state was proof enough.

"Scorpion," Erren almost yelled. Scorpion snapped out of his daze and realized he was ignoring her.

"Hm?" Was his response. He didn't know if he could manage anything better than that.

"What's the m-matter?" The girl - Erren - was crying at that point. Scorpion simply stared wide eyed at the small creature that was currently holding him. She was trying so hard not to cry, he could tell, but was failing.

"Heh," he allowed his head to fall on his chest. How was he going to get out of this mess? There was no denying it - he had fallen for her without realizing it. Scorpion felt the girl tense up and squeeze his waist again. He opened his eyes and turned his head toward her. He felt his eyes widen again when he noticed how beautiful her eyes were with tears in them. Her eyes were like green pools, swallowing his attention with every small but powerful ripple.

Scorpion wrapped his arm - the one around her shoulder - around her neck, grabbing her face with his hand, and began pulling her toward him. This time, he for damn sure wasn't going to let her stop him.

"Scorpion," she breathed as he stared at her in the eyes. That only quickened his resolve as he removed the bottom part of his mask. Before she could say anything else, Scorpion had his lips on hers.

Scorpion moved his other arm around and grabbed her waist, forcing her closer. He felt her arm around _his_ waist fall limp. The girl made some sort of noise in her throat - Scorpion took that as a sign that she was enjoying it.

Erren didn't know what to do - now there was no getting out of it. He had a strong hold of her, and she couldn't get out, even in his weakened state. She noticed, however, that she was actually liking it - his kiss. Even so, she thought as she opened her eyes, she still didn't have feelings for Scorpion, other than a friendship. A strange friendship, yes, but that's as much as she could see them being. Friends.

It didn't feel _wrong_, but that didn't make it _right_. Erren felt Scorpion's tongue press against her top lip and she instantly moved her hand up to his chest, shoving away from his face. He gasped and shrunk away in pain - she hated to do that, but it was for his own good. She just…didn't see him that way. It was amazing that he saw her that way - it made no sense, as she had realized earlier.

Erren wiped away her tears and sighed. "I'm sorry, Scorpion…but I'm not…I mean, we can't…" She gently wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled herself into a hug. She was shocked, honestly - where did that come from? She felt sorry for him, that's why. Rejection was hard to deal with; on _both_ sides.

Scorpion sat there, catching his breath. Erren could feel his chest move as she rested her head on it. His bare skin felt good against her cheek - so warm. Even though it was warm outside, the warmth of his body felt nice. Erren heaved a shaky sigh and sat up, slowly looking up at Scorpion.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. Scorpion removed his arms from her waist, put the bottom of his mask on, and laid back.

"You'll be leaving soon enough. Forget about it." He sounded so cold. Erren felt tears sting her eyes again as he refused to look at her.

"Really, I didn't mean - "

Scorpion glared down at the teen. "I said forget about it." Erren was surprised at how loud his voice was. He seemed shocked by it, too.

Erren bit her bottom lip and laid back against the tree when he turned away from her. She stared up at the tree's leafy branches, seeing small spots of sun-light filter through the leaves. After a few more moments of pointless staring, she gasped. There was a ninja hiding in the tree, right above her with a knife in his hand,

Staring at Scorpion with a deadly glint in his eyes.

End of Chapter Twenty One

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(Ok, it'll end in the next chapter…hopefully. If not, then the next. Well, it'll end soon, I promise! I just miscalculated, is all. O_o I hope you all are still enjoying this story. Sorry for any mistakes - I'm tired, so yeah...ha ha. See you next chapter.)

Red :)


	22. Last Effort

(I am sorry for the _long _wait. I've been busy with school starting and all.)

I don't own anything that is not mine.

Chapter Twenty Two: Last Effort

Erren could _not_ take on a ninja. She was completely incapable of such a feat. She could see herself _trying_ to take on a ninja and failing miserably. She'd be dead in three seconds flat. Erren nervously looked away from the branches, hoping the stranger didn't notice that he had been noticed. She casually moved her hand over Scorpion's, hoping he would look at her.

Scorpion seemed surprised by the teen's touch and turned his head, his eyes blazing. Erren quickly got his attention before he lashed out and started yelling. She moved her eyes back and forth between him and upward. Scorpion cocked an eyebrow and was about to say something -- Erren flipped and did the first thing that came to her mind.

The teen quickly embraced Scorpion in a hug. _Great going Erren…_ She thought as she moved her lips closer to his ear. Her plan was to tell him, _very_ quietly, that there was a ninja in the tree above. Of course, she wouldn't have to do that if he could take a hint.

"Look up," she whispered into the Shirai-Ryu's ear. Scorpion did as instructed and to Erren's amazement, jumped up while making sure neither he nor Erren were hit with a few kunai knives that had suddenly been thrown from above.

Scorpion threw Erren behind him and continued to stare at the tree where the knives had come from. Erren didn't know how Scorpion was standing so firmly, or how he kept perfectly still.

"Come the hell out." Scorpion demanded. A few seconds later, the ninja Erren had seen minutes earlier appeared below the tree. He was dressed just like the other ninjas Erren had seen in the village; brown and black.

"Raiden doesn't know everything it seems." Scorpion snorted as he prepared himself for an attack. Erren thought she noticed a slight tremor run through Scorpion's body and she instantly felt the urge to stop him.

"Wait…stop - " Erren reached her hand out but stopped when Scorpion stepped forward out of her reach. "You can't.."

Scorpion heard Erren mumbling something behind him but didn't listen to a word of it. He wasn't going to just sit around and _not_ fight. Of course, he was in no condition _to_ fight. His body was violently protesting any sort of movement. But what could he do? If he didn't do anything Erren would die…

_I'm so pathetic._There he was worrying about someone else's safety; something he hadn't done in a long time. He had tried so hard not to grow attached to the girl but it was hard when every time he looked at her he had a hard time thinking straight. For some reason she had that strange -- and somewhat dangerous -- effect on him. Scorpion had feelings for her, but that didn't matter because he wasn't going to let them control him…or, not anymore.

"Shut up and hide somewhere safe." That shut her up. Scorpion could hear the girl's footsteps running away and shortly after turned his attention wholly on to his enemy.

Which was what he should have done seconds ago -- the strange ninja had thrown another set of knives in Scorpion's direction. The Shirai-Ryu dodged and forced his arm to reach for his sword; it was getting harder to move.

"That's all you can do? Throw knives?" Scorpion tried to sound as normal as possible as he held out his sword menacingly.

The stranger snickered as he pulled out a sword of his own. "You're in no position to mock me -- it seems our poison's doing it's job nicely." He paused and put his free hand on his hip cockily. "You'll be dead in a few minutes if you keep moving like that. Why don't you just give me the girl? I promise I'll kill her quickly."

Scorpion felt his eyes narrow. "Stupid bastard," he growled as he charged. He swung his sword but it was met with the enemy's. Scorpion flinched back as the force of the hit rippled through his aching middle. Ignoring the pain, Scorpion pulled out his other sword and put it to the stranger's throat.

"Nicely done. I'm shocked you're still able to move."

"Yeah, well try not to be completely amazed after I do this." Scorpion began to pull the sword back and cut off his opponent's head when he felt a sharp pain throughout his middle. He instantly took a step back, but the pain only doubled.

"I could defeat you with one finger." The ninja said as he jammed his finger further into Scorpion's side. "Funny, huh?" The stranger watched as Scorpion fell to his knees and balled up.

"Damn..you…" Scorpion ground out through clenched teeth. He had over looked that little part. He should have been watching both of his hands.

"Again, you're in no position to - " There was a loud _thunk_ noise. Scorpion looked up to see a very pissed off ninja and a rock lying on the ground near his feet.

_She didn't…_

Erren stood behind the ninja holding another rock in her hand. She looked absolutely terrified. "D..don't even think about it.."

The ninja's anger dissipated when he began laughing. "Oh, aren't we the brave one." He began walking toward Erren casually. Erren stiffened and backed away a couple of steps.

"D-don't come any closer!" She held up the rock as if she was going to throw it.

"What are you doing?" Scorpion roared. Why couldn't she have ran away?

The stranger laughed. "Yeah, what_ are _you doing? You think a rock will stop me?"

Erren glared as hard as she could and continued to hold the rock firmly. She didn't say anything. Scorpion could only watch in horror as the ninja continued getting closer and closer to the girl. He had to do something so she could get away. But after a few moments of trying to stand and failing, Scorpion realized there wasn't much he could do.

"Damnit." With one last effort, Scorpion stood. He grabbed one of his swords and began toward the ninja silently.

Erren glanced behind the ninja who was going to kill her and saw Scorpion stand. She quickly looked away and tried her best to seem terrified of the man before her. "I..I'll throw it!"

The ninja laughed harder this time. "Are you slow? I just said - " He was interrupted by a sword entering his middle. A second later he fell to the ground in a dead heap. Erren dropped the rock and tried not to look at the dead man as she ran toward Scorpion. She noticed he was about to fall, so she did her best to keep him up as she literally jumped to him and held him.

"If you…ever do that…again.." Scorpion could barely breathe. Why was it so hard to breathe? He then noticed he couldn't feel his legs and quickly fell to the ground, taking Erren with him. "Damn.."

"Scorpion," Erren was crying by then. Scorpion could have rolled his eyes.

"What…are you crying about..?" Shit he sounded pathetic. He looked at the girl and noticed her arms wrapped around his neck and she was crying into his shoulder.

"I..you're…" Scorpion rolled his eyes -- or, thought he did -- and placed a hand on Erren's back. There was nothing worse than a blubbering woman.

"Don't worry about me…just worry.."

Scorpion never finished the sentence because unconsciousness took over.

When Scorpion came to, he was in a bed. He quickly sat up, suspicion taking over and threw the sheets off.

"Calm down," an all too familiar voice said coolly. Scorpion looked up to see Johnny Cage sitting beside the bed. The Shirai-Ryu had _not_ expected to see the blonde there.

"Where the hell am I?" Scorpion demanded hoarsely. Why was his throat hoarse?

Johnny sighed as he stood and stretched. "You're not gonna like it when I tell you."

"Tell me or I'll slit your throat."

"Ok, ok!" Johnny sighed again and backed up a few steps. "The Lin Quei shrine…"

Scorpion blinked a couple of times before registering the information. He glared at Johnny -- or would have if he was there. The blonde had left. Scorpion sighed and stood, but his legs gave out for some reason and he about fell on the floor…

Until a strong arm wrapped around his middle and helped him back up. Scorpion looked up to see blue and could do nothing but glare.

"Come on Scorpion, you could at least thank him." Raiden's familiar voice echoed through the room as he stepped in. "He's the one who nursed you back to health."

Scorpion didn't like the way the sentence was worded -- nursed? No. "…How long was I out?"

"Four days." Sub-Zero said as he urged Scorpion to lie back down. "And all of that will mean nothing if you don't lay back down."

Scorpion pushed away from the Lin Quei headmaster, only then realizing how weak he really was. He ignored it however. "No. I'm fine."

Sub-Zero was about to say something else but Raiden stopped him. "We thought you were going to die for a while there."

Scorpion snorted. "Then why did you revive me?"

The room was silent until Sonya came in. "Because you ass, Erren wouldn't have ever left if you were going to die." Scorpion stared at the blonde woman like she was crazy.

"What?"

"After we defeated the ninja who kept attacking Erren, Raiden found a portal back to Erren's world. We came back to get her and found you barely breathing." Sonya said as she folded her arms over her chest. "She was hysterical -- she wouldn't leave until she knew you'd be ok."

"And that took about a day or so to convince her." Johnny added. "Subs over here had to work constantly to keep you from dying, and when he finally got you stable Erren left."

It was quiet for a moment before Johnny started to chuckle. "But not before she --"

"She told us to tell you bye." Sub-Zero interrupted. He gave Johnny a look.

"What? I think he'd like to know!" Johnny said in his defense. He began to chuckle again as he looked at Scorpion. "She gave you a peck on the cheek before she left."

Whatever Johnny was expecting from Scorpion, he didn't get it. Scorpion was staring at the floor. _So she's gone.._What did that mean to him? She didn't matter to him. He didn't _need_ her, and she didn't need him. There was nothing there.

So why did he feel so empty all of a sudden?

"So," Raiden started. "We have saved the realms thanks to Scorpion. Thank you."

Scorpion continued to stare at the floor. "…yeah."

End of _Walking Kontradiction_

(A/N: Ok, I know you're all thinking "Wow, what a sucky ending!" _But_, it's not over. There will be a sequel and it will be up as soon as I can get it up. Thank you all who have reviewed and kept me going. I hope to hear from you again!)

Red


End file.
